A statewide grand jury is considering criminal charges in an alleged scheme involving improper gun sales from the Massachusetts State Police armory, nearly two years after the state Attorney General's Office launched an investigation into the matter.

The investigation dates back to 2016, when three troopers were suspended following allegations that they sold used State Police guns to a Greenfield arms dealer and received firearms for their personal use in exchange, the Boston Globe reported at the time.

No developments in the investigation have been publicly reported since. But MassLive has learned that one of the three troopers, Robert Outwater, has been suspended without pay for nearly two years. A spokeswoman for the AG's office confirmed the inquiry is still active, while declining to provide other information about the case.

The Massachusetts State Police denied a request for public records relating to gun sales at the armory, arguing their release could impede the ongoing investigation. In correspondence with the state's public records office, the agency confirmed that a grand jury is weighing charges in the matter.

"The Massachusetts Attorney General's Office has advised the Massachusetts State Police that the Attorney General's Office is conducting an active grand jury investigation of alleged criminal violations," State Police counsel Daniel Brunelli wrote to Supervisor of Public Records Rebecca Murray on Thursday.

Outwater has remained suspended without pay since the fall of 2016. The other two troopers linked to the investigation in 2016 -- Armorer's Section Commander Lt. Paul Wosny and Armorer Trooper Mike Wilmot -- have retired, state police spokesman David Procopio wrote in an email.

No other troopers have faced disciplinary action in connection with the investigation, Procopio told MassLive.

Attorney Leonard Kesten, who represented Outwater and Wilmot at the time, did not return calls requesting comment. Timothy Burke, who the Globe reported was Wosny's lawyer in 2016, also did not return a phone call this week.

Wosny, Outwater and Wilmot were suspended in September of that year amid an inquiry into the transfer of hundreds of surplus police weapons to a gun and police equipment dealer in Western Massachusetts, WCVB reported at the time.

Sources familiar with the investigation told the Boston Globe in 2016 that the probe centered on transactions between the state police armory and Jurek Brothers, a Greenfield-based vendor with a contract to sell firearms, weapons and other supplies to state police.

The Attorney General's Office was focused on allegations that troopers staffing the armory marked weapons as surplus and traded them to Jurek Brothers, who then gave over a dozen of those weapons back to the troopers for personal use, the Globe reported. Investigators were scrutinizing whether Wosny, Wilmot and Outwater were authorized to make the deal, whether state police received fair value for the weapons and whether the troopers' alleged receipt of free guns violated state ethics laws.

Jurek Brothers did not pay Massachusetts State Police for the weapons but gave the agency credit toward future purchases, sources told the Globe.

At the time, Kesten and Burke told the Globe it was common practice for the armory to trade old guns to vendors, and denied that their clients committed any wrongdoing.

Attorney Thomas Merrigan, who represented Jurek Brothers in 2016, did not respond to a request for comment.

There are currently multiple grand juries investigating potential criminality by state troopers. A federal grand jury has so far brought charges against four of the approximately 40 troopers implicated in an overtime abuse scandal involving no-show traffic enforcement shifts on the Massachusetts Turnpike.