Thursday, Nov. 4, 2010 | 10:18 a.m.
Three men, including an active duty U.S. Navy SEAL, were arrested Wednesday for conspiring to engage in prohibited firearms trafficking for allegedly selling machine guns and other firearms to an undercover law enforcement officer in Nevada and Colorado, Nevada's U.S. Attorney Daniel Bogden said today.
Nicholas Bickle, 33, of San Diego, Richard Paul, 34, of Durango, Colo., and Andrew Kaufman, 36, of Las Vegas, were arrested in their respective cities of residence. All three are scheduled to appear today before federal magistrate judges.
The men are charged in a criminal complaint with conspiracy to commit offenses against the United States between June 22 and Oct. 28. They were charged with unlawfully engaging in firearms dealing without having paid a special tax, possessing a machine gun that was not registered in the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record, and transferring an unregistered machine gun.
The defendants were arrested following a five-month investigation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS), and Metro Police. An undercover ATF task force officer purchased 18 machine guns and 14 other firearms from the defendants in Las Vegas, and Durango and Bayfield, Colo.
According to the criminal complaint, a cooperating individual advised the investigating authorities that the machine guns were smuggled into the United States by special forces military personnel returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. The complaint states that Bickle is a U.S. Navy SEAL assigned to a unit in the San Diego area. An ATF lab technician identified a number of the machine guns as containing a mark used by the Iraqi military to signify ownership.
If convicted, the defendants face up to five years in prison on the conspiracy charge and a $250,000 fine.
The case is being investigated by ATF, NCIS, and Metro, and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Drew Smith and J. Gregory Damm.
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