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This article was published 7/10/2013 (2537 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Fort Frances, Ont., man nabbed in a complex and covert international gun-smuggling sting by the RCMP is facing years behind bars in the United States before facing prosecution and, possibly, more jail time in Manitoba.

Shawn James Hartnell, 29, will be sentenced in Fargo, N.D., on Oct. 17 after admitting guilt to a charge of conspiring to export firearms from the U.S. into Canada. Hartnell agreed to a plea deal that will see U.S. federal prosecutors recommend he get a break on a possible five-year sentence.

Hartnell was the chief subject of a Winnipeg RCMP customs and excise unit sting that began in April 2012 after he met up with two undercover officers and brokered a deal to sell them two semi-automatic rifles he acquired in the U.S. for $2,000 each.

'Things will be much easier in the future' ‐ Shawn Hartnell

Additional weapons could be brought across the border by snowmobile, Hartnell told them at the time, according to court documents obtained by the Free Press on Monday.

Hartnell's first sale to the agents went through in a meeting in Winnipeg on Apr. 30, 2012. "Things will be much easier in the future," police quoted Hartnell as saying at the time. Hartnell then went to work in West Virginia on a temporary visa.

He resurfaced months later and began laying the groundwork for another gun deal with the police agents.

Between December and Jan. 30, he had "numerous" exchanges with the agents through text messages and email saying he had more weapons to sell. Hartnell called the weapons "toys" in one exchange, court documents state.

A meeting in Grand Forks with the agents was arranged. Hartnell said he would sell them six more firearms -- guns he knew were to be smuggled into Canada, the documents state.

To get his hands on the weapons for the deal, Hartnell wired $10,000 to a Jerome, Idaho, man to purchase the guns for him as he wasn't a citizen and couldn't buy them himself. Among the cache he sought were two handguns and three semiautomatic rifles.

He and Dylan Dowton, 20, met up in February in Grand Forks and Hartnell inspected the weapons Dowton bought on his behalf. The pair then drove separately to another hotel parking lot to meet up with the police agents.

The undercover officers provided about US$24,000 to Hartnell inside a hotel room and took custody of the guns from Dowton.

Hartnell was detained soon after. He initially signalled an intention to plead not guilty but changed his mind earlier this year.

Hartnell faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release. He faces immediate deportation after his prison sentence concludes.

RCMP said he still faces 35 weapons-related charges in Manitoba and have obtained an arrest warrant.

The same day Hartnell was arrested in Grand Forks, Winnipeg RCMP moved in to arrest Thomas Peter Atkinson, 23, in Fort Frances in connection with the same investigation. Atkinson is currently free on $3,000 bail while facing numerous weapons charges dating back to Apr. 30, 2012.

In July, Atkinson won access to edited versions of wiretap warrants police obtained in the investigation. He said he needed access to them in order to fight his case properly. His bail conditions include not owning or possessing any weapons and not having contact with Hartnell.

james.turner@freepress.mb.ca