A federal judge ruled Monday that two gun trafficking charges will remain against a Pennsylvania man accused of working with two Lake County Sheriff's Department officers to illegally buy and sell gun parts.
lRelated Two speeders caught driving in excess of 115 mph POST-TRIBUNE NEWS Two speeders caught driving in excess of 115 mph SEE ALL RELATED 8
Hammond man faces sex trafficking charges Hammond man faces sex trafficking charges Vahan Kelerchian, 55, of Richboro, Pa., a firearms dealer who owned Armament Services International, had asked U.S. District Judge Joseph Van Bokkelen to dismiss the first two of nine charges - conspiracy to provide false information to a federal firearms licensee and conspiracy to defraud the U.S. Food and Drug Administration - against him by arguing that his alleged actions weren't actually federal offenses.
Kelerchian was accused two years ago of working with Joseph Kumstar, the Lake County deputy chief, and Ronald Slusser, a member of the SWAT team, to use documents from the sheriff's department to buy 71 fully automated machine guns and 74 laser sights that only law enforcement and the military are allowed to buy. The men would intercept the weapons when delivered to the sheriff's department, according to federal attorneys, and then dismantle the guns to sell the barrels and the laser sights on the black market.
cComments
Got something to say? Start the conversation and be the first to comment.
ADD A COMMENT
0
Kumstar and Slusser have both pleaded guilty in the case. Kelerchian is set to go on trial July 8.
Attorneys for Kelerchian had argued that there's no legal requirement to notify the government about transferring the individual parts of the machine guns and that even if it is illegal, it's only a misdemeanor crime.
Van Bokkelen dismissed that argument, though, noting that Kelerchian only got the barrels by lying in order to buy the entire machine guns.
Law and Order: Gary teen faces attempted murder charge Law and Order: Gary teen faces attempted murder charge "Count 1 is not so much about the dissemination of the machine guns as about making a false statement to mislead the dealer that the guns were intended for the sheriff's department," Van Bokkelen wrote.
He also likened the allegation against Kelerchian to the opposite of a straw purchaser. Instead of lying to a firearm dealer by claiming he was buying a gun for himself when he was really buying it for someone else, Kelerchian is accused of lying by saying the guns were for someone else when they were actually for himself, the judge said.
As for the second charge, Kelerchian's attorneys argued that there's no federal law prohibiting the laser sights' maker, Insight Technology, from selling them to anyone other than police and the military.
However, Van Bokkelen wrote that the U.S. Congress has granted the FDA powers to regulate laser sights, a power that the FDA used when it gave Insight a variance that allowed the company to sell the laser sights to police and the military. The variance included an agreement by Insight that it would sell the sights only to police and military and to keep record of everyone who bought the laser sights.
"When, as alleged, Mr. Kelerchian agreed with others to lie to Insight about who the real purchaser of the laser sights was, they obstructed the FDA," Van Bokkelen wrote. "Such deceit, craft or trickery, if true, exposed Mr. Kelerchian to criminal liability..."