The one-time owners of a Florida Keys gun store were sentenced last week in federal court, dodging a much larger possible punishment.
Following a 10-month sting operation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives against Outbreak Ordnance on Big Pine Key, Jarvis Nelson Osorio, 36, of Miami Lakes, and Thomas Joseph Willi, 52, of Key West were taken into custody in 2015.
Indicted on 30 different violations ranging from making false statements in the sale of firearms to having unregistered National Firearms Act weapons and transferring guns to prohibited persons, the two men were facing centuries in prison.
According to court document, agents collected 24 guns from the shop, with at least 15 were believed to be classified as NFA regulated Any Other Weapons noting four pen guns, a flashlight gun, and several knife guns including three rare GRADs.
The guns in some cases had been posted on Facebook and were cataloged in the shop’s records as “AOW” even though they had not been properly transferred. Despite this, the store had them listed for sale.
https://www.facebook.com/OutbreakOrdnance/videos/841025662650636/
In the end, a .38-caliber cane gun made in recent years by AFT, became the focal point of the government’s case.
Noting the cane gun was legally produced, but not properly registered in the NFRTR to either defendant, the defendants admitted responsibility for the item. After attempting to change venues and swapping attorneys, the men plead guilty in July to a single count of unlawful possession of an unregistered firearm.
Facing a maximum of 10 years in prison on the adjudicated charge, the gun shop co-owners asked for leniency.
Willi had a career as a public official in South Florida — first as a building inspector then as Monroe County Administrator and Town Manager for the city of Davie — and had a number of local government officials vouch for his character to the court. Showing remorse, he told the court his “violation of law has tarnished [his] reputation of being dedicated to public service.” As such, his attorney requested a 30-month sentence.
Likewise, Osorio’s attorney requested the same length of sentence, pointing out that he had graduated from the police academy in Key West at the top of his class, was an NRA-certified firearms instructor and produced letters of endorsement from area attorneys and ministers.
U.S. District Court Judge Jose E. Martinez agreed in both cases and last Thursday handed down sentences of 30 months’ imprisonment, to be followed by three years of supervised release. The men were also ordered to surrender their federal firearms licenses.
As for Outbreak, the shuttered store was hit with a $500,000 fine, and the confiscated weapons deemed forfeited. Public records show the firearm license for Outbreak Ordnance LLC, a Type 07, expired on Oct. 1.
The post Former gun shop owners get 30 months over unregistered cane gun appeared first on Guns.com.