A Kansas man has been sentenced to 52 months in federal prison for using a hidden marketplace website to export firearms to purchasers overseas.
Michael Andrew Ryan — aka GunRunner and Brad Jones — was sentenced Monday by a U.S. district judge and ordered to forfeit all guns and ammunition that had been seized during the investigation by authorities, according to a statement by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Ryan previously pleaded guilty last summer to six counts of illegally exporting and attempting to export firearms from the U.S. to people in other countries and was taken into custody in October.
Ryan confessed to using Black Market Reloaded, a hidden internet marketplace where individuals can anonymously and illegally traffic drugs and other goods, to traffic dozens of firearms. The smuggled guns included UZIs, Glocks, pistols and revolvers, and some serial numbers had been removed from the firearms.
According to the sentencing memorandum, Ryan voluntarily stopped trafficking guns before he made contact with law enforcement and cooperated with federal authorities once taken into custody. Both factors were taken into account for the 52-month sentence.
Also included in the sentencing memorandum were letters from family and friends asking the judge to have mercy when sentencing Ryan.
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