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Roy Ellis Hunter (Special to AL.com)

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A former police department janitor was sentenced to federal prison for stealing guns from the evidence room and selling them out of his home.

Roy Ellis Hunter, 70, was indicted in July 2016 on one count of being a convicted felon in possession of four handguns. Hunter pleaded guilty to the charge in October.

U.S. District Judge Madeline Hughes Haikala sentenced Hunter to six years and six months in prison, according to Acting U.S. Attorney Robert O. Posey and Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Assistant Special Agent in Charge David Hyche. He must report to prison May 15.

"Roy Hunter was stealing guns from a police department and then selling them to persons who could not legally buy a firearm," Posey said. "ATF and the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency stopped that illegal flow of guns back onto the streets. Our community is safer because of their work and this prosecution."

Hunter was federally indicted on July 26, 2016, and arrested the following month. His first arrest happened in July 2015, when he was charged with smuggling guns out the Fairfield Police Department's evidence room and then selling them out of his home. At the time, he was a janitor at the department.

Hunter was released on bond from state charges that stemmed from that arrest when he was arrested by federal authorities last year.

On June 4, 2015, Hunter sold four handguns: A Cobra .380-caliber pistol, an FIE .32-caliber revolver, an Iberia .40-caliber pistol, and a Norinco 9 mm pistol for $800 to an informant working undercover with ATF agents. The sale occurred at Hunter's home in Fairfield, and was monitored and recorded by the informant. Hunter and the informant planned another purchase during that transaction, court documents show.

On July 8, the informant paid Hunter $4,000 to buy 15 firearms which he selected from 30 that Hunter kept in his basement. Documents show one of the guns was in a clear plastic bag that was marked "Evidence."

Agents arrested Hunter the next day and recovered 31 firearms, ammunition, narcotics and a decorative sword that were all presumed to be stolen from the Fairfield Police Department, Hunter's plea agreement stated.

According to his indictment, Hunter is a convicted felon who spent time in federal prison on racketeering charges connected to a drug trafficking operation in 1984, and was convicted of federal counterfeiting charges in 1983. He was also a member of the Outcast Motorcycle Club.

ATF and the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency investigated the case, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael A. Royster prosecuted.