MICHIGAN MAN SENTENCED TO OVER 6 YEARS FOR WEAPONS VIOLATIONS
BRIAN JAMES OLDHAM, age 34, a resident of Kentwood, Michigan, was sentenced today in federal court by U. S. District Judge Eldon E. Fallon to 75 months in prison for illegally possessing a stolen firearm in New Orleans, announced U. S. Attorney Jim Letten. In addition to the term of imprisonment, Judge Fallon ordered that OLDHAM be placed on three (3) years of supervised release following the term of imprisonment, during which time the defendant will be under federal supervision and risks an additional term of imprisonment should he violate any terms of his supervised release.
OLDHAM pleaded guilty on May 12, 2011. According to the factual basis, ATF agents were alerted to an individual, later identified as BRIAN JAMES OLDHAM, selling an automatic rifle via the internet website “Craigslist.com”. The Craigslist ad specified that the rifle was a fully automatic Russian AK-47 and the ad also offered for sale a “point blank body armor vest”. An ATF agent, posing online as a customer, agreed to buy the AK-47 and the ballistic vest for a total of $1500.00. OLDHAM told the undercover ATF agent that he wanted to conduct the sale as soon as possible because he was traveling to Haiti to help with earthquake relief efforts as a paramedic. The undercover ATF agent agreed to meet OLDHAM later that evening in the parking lot of a local grocery in Metairie, Louisiana to conduct the transaction. When OLDHAM arrived at the parking lot he was detained by agents who advised him they were investigating the sale of a prohibited firearm. Shortly thereafter, OLDHAM admitted to the agents that he was indeed attempting to sell the prohibited firearm via Craigslist and that he had stolen the firearm from the home where he had been staying for the past week. OLDHAM also admitted that he had lied about traveling to Haiti to assist in earthquake relief efforts. OLDHAM is a previously convicted felon and thus was legally precluded from possessing any firearms.
This case was investigated by Special Agents of the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) and was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Rick Veters.
