The Barrett Model 82A1 can pick off a target a mile away with a .50-caliber round.

That's why a Youngstown gun-shop owner should have questioned why a group of buyers from Indiana wanted 62 of the military-grade sniper rifles, according to federal prosecutors in Columbus, who said the weapons were resold at the Mexican border.

"The 62 guns are gone. They're no longer in the country," Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin Kelley said. "Sixty-two of these guns heading south and out of the country is worrisome."

A grand jury indictment filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Columbus alleges that Paul A. Groves, 36, owner of High Powered Armory, conspired with his buyers to illegally resell the guns to Mexican buyers.

The local investigation was spurred by a U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives probe of an international firearms-trafficking ring in Indianapolis. Authorities there have arrested at least five alleged ring members.

Groves' shop has a federal firearms license that would have allowed the broker to resell the guns to the Indiana group of buyers with proper documentation, prosecutors said. However, reselling the guns without proper paperwork was illegal, according to the indictment.

Groves could not be reached for comment.

The Indiana group allegedly drove the guns south to McAllen, Texas, and sold them to people who indicated the guns would be taken into Mexico.

The transactions occurred between March 2014 and April 2015, according to the indictment. Kelley said prosecutors had no evidence on where in Mexico the guns were bound for.

The retail price of a Barrett Model 82A1 is $8,000. The Mexican buyers "paid extremely high, marked-up prices," according to the indictment.

The investigation also led to a Columbus machine shop. Eric L. Grimes, 47, pleaded guilty Wednesday in federal court in Columbus to engaging in an unlicensed firearms business at his Great Machine shop, 5050 Atlas St. on the West Side.

Grimes did machine work such as race car engines and was a legitimate gunsmith who had a working relationship with Groves, according to the U.S. attorney's office in Columbus. However, he wasn't licensed to do some work, including converting semiautomatic weapons to fully automatic.

Grimes accepted $48,000 from the Indiana group at Great Machine to hold for Groves, who would later deliver guns to the Indiana buyers.

"He just thought he was doing Groves a favor," Kelley said of Grimes.

There was no evidence that any of the guns from Great Machine were sold to the Indiana group, prosecutors said.

ATF agents searching the business seized 43 improperly registered guns. They also seized an MK19, which can fire 40 mm grenades farther than a mile at a rate of up to 375 a minute.

Grimes told ATF agents that Groves had provided parts for the MK19, which Groves owned.

Grimes' guilty plea leaves him facing up to five years in prison.

The two charges against Groves are punishable by a total of up to 10 years in prison.

Both men were free pending trial.

erinehart@dispatch.com

@esrinehart