Wrenn Pleads Guilty
The Augusta Chronicle reports:
A North Augusta man pleaded guilty this week in federal court to committing mail fraud involving the transfer of illegal machine guns and lying to federal agents.
Ernest Wrenn, 56, pleaded guilty Wednesday in the U.S. District Court of South Carolina to one count of mail fraud and one count of knowingly making a materially false statement to an agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Sentencing will be later.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Columbia, Mr. Wrenn lied to an ATF agent in 2002 about how many machine gun kits he had, and in January 2004, investigators discovered he was scamming customers by selling illegal machine guns he said were ATF-approved.
So, the only charges in the case are lying to an agent and mail fraud. Unless there’s more to it than we know, Wrenn did not have machine guns. He had made a semi-automatic Maxim. The ATF, according to the folks at Subguns, couldn’t make that stick.
Update: Basically, Wrenn got the Martha Stewart treatment. He was guilty of lying about a crime no one could prove he committed. As of yet, the details on the mail fraud charge are sketchy. Some folks allege he sold the items even though he had obtained a denial letter from the ATF stating the upper receivers were subject to the NFA. Others claim he sold them not knowing the ATF considered them NFA items but was advised to keep the money he received by his attorneys. Something here ain’t right.
Past coverage here.
November 17th, 2005 at 11:38 am
Ah, the Martha Stewart option. He was charged with a flashy crime, He was forced to plead guilty of at least something (anything). Meanwhile prosecutor that push the BS that was the main charges are free to roam the streets.
November 17th, 2005 at 1:20 pm
Does this mean he’s guilty of a charge that can result in more than one year in prison? And wasn’t the mail fraud charge because he didn’t ship products which were impounded by the ATF? And the lying was for saying he had no illegal machineguns. (In other words, for not confessing to a crime he isn’t charged with.) Right? I’m pretty peeved right now…
November 17th, 2005 at 1:21 pm
Both charges are felonies. Supposedly, the mail fraud is because he took cash for products he couldn’t sell. Yeah, he was Martha Stewarted.
November 17th, 2005 at 1:59 pm
Anyone can be taken down by the Feds at their discretion. Not breaking the law is not a defense. We work for them, not they for us.
November 17th, 2005 at 8:48 pm
[…] From Say Uncle So, the only charges in the case are lying to an agent and mail fraud. Unless there’s more to it than we know, Wrenn did not have machine guns. He had made a semi-automatic Maxim. The ATF, according to the folks at Subguns, couldn’t make that stick. […]
November 18th, 2005 at 9:29 pm
Carnival of Cordite #39
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