Coatsville man sentenced in machine-gun case

A Hendricks County man has been sentenced on federal firearms charges stemming from a 2011 raid in which police found about 175 firearms and more than 59,000 rounds of ammunition, U.S. Attorney Joe Hogsett announced Tuesday.

Jackie Richardson, 49, Coatsville, was sentenced April 17 to 10 years in prison on one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm and one count of unlawfully possessing a machine gun, according to a release from Hogsett’s office.

Richardson was arrested Dec. 17, 2011, by Hendricks County sheriff’s deputies responding to a 911 call about domestic violence at his home, according to the release. Deputies found evidence of an illegal firearms manufacturing operation and contacted the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the release said.

“Never in the 3½ years that I have served as the United States attorney have we prosecuted a felony possession case more egregious and dangerous than this,” Hogsett said in a statement. “The danger posed by the presence of an illegal gun manufacturing operation to the citizens of Hendricks County is unacceptably disconcerting.”

Hogsett said Richardson had no legal right to possess firearms or ammunition because of prior felony convictions for battery, theft, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and felony intimidation stemming from multiple incidents dating at least to the late 1990s. It was unclear Tuesday what Richardson did with the weapons he made.

Thirty-five of the guns possessed by Richardson were fully automatic machine guns, authorities said. Under U.S. law, a person may own a fully automatic machine gun with the proper permit, said Patrick Hand, an ATF spokesman in Indianapolis. Richardson’s machine guns were not registered, Hand said.

“As long as it has been properly registered as a machine gun with the ATF prior to May 1986, you may own such a gun,” Hand said. “The only manufacturing that currently takes place is for military or law enforcement.”

Richardson faces three years of supervised release after his term.

Authorities do not often come across illegal gun manufacturing operations. “It’s not something we see every day, but it’s out there,” Hand said.

To lawfully manufacture firearms, a person must obtain a license from ATF, Hand said.

Illegal gun manufacturers also are not a major supplier of firearms to criminals, Hand said.

ATF spokeswoman Suzanne Dabkowski said straw purchases, gun thefts and illegal person-to-person transactions are among the most popular ways individuals get their hands on guns used in crimes. A straw purchase is when a person legally able to obtain a firearm buys it for someone who is not able to pass a background check.

An ATF study notes that 183,660 guns were reported stolen in 2012. That number is up from 145,300 firearms reported stolen in 2010, according to a 2012 review by the Bureau of Justice Statistics’ National Crime Victims Survey.

In its report, the ATF warned that its findings likely reveal only a fraction of the problem because many lost and stolen firearms are not reported.

USA TODAY contributed to this story. Call Star reporter Bill McCleery at (317) 444-6083 and Star reporter Justin L. Mack at (317) 444-6138. Follow them on Twitter: @BillMcCleery01 and @justinlmack.