Former DEA agent pleads guilty to illegally selling assault rifles

BrieAnna J. Frank | The Republic | azcentral.com

A former Nogales-based Drug Enforcement Administration employee pleaded guilty in a Tucson federal court on Tuesday to one count of selling firearms online without a license, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Nevada said.

Joseph Michael Gill, 42, had applied for a federal firearms license in December 2012 but withdrew his application before being granted the license, the office said.

After withdrawing his application, Gill purchased multiple firearms from licensed dealers and sold them on Gunbroker.com, the office said.

According to the plea agreement, Gill purchased three Colt .223/5.56 caliber rifles online from a licensed dealer in Kentucky for nearly $1,900 on June 12, 2016.

The rifles were shipped to Sahuarita, a community south of Tucson, where Gill picked them up four days later, according to the plea agreement.

Gill sold two of the rifles to two people who "he had reason to believe intended to use or dispose of the firearms unlawfully," the plea agreement said.

Gill had engaged in about 645 firearms transactions, the office said.

He was previously a DEA supervisory special agent in the department's Nogales office, having resigned from his position on June 30.

The U.S. Attorney's Office in Arizona was recused from the case.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Lynnette C. Kimmins accepted Gill's plea and scheduled sentencing for Nov. 26. The maximum penalty is five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.