NEWS RELEASE

OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY

WESTERN DISTRICT OF MISSOURI

BETH PHILLIPS

Contact Don Ledford, Public Affairs ● (816) 426-4220 ● 400 East Ninth Street, Room 5510 ● Kansas City, MO 64106

www.usdoj.gov../index.html

FEBRUARY 12, 2010

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

RUSSELLVILLE MAN PLEADS GUILTY TO ILLEGAL FIREARMS;

FACES 15 YEARS IN PRISON

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Beth Phillips, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a Russellville, Mo., man pleaded guilty in federal court today to illegally possessing firearms and to possessing stolen firearms.

Dale Scott Olten, Sr., 46, of Russellville, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Nanette K. Laughrey this morning to the charges contained in a July 17, 2009, federal indictment.

By pleading guilty today, Olten admitted that he was in possession of 29 rifles, shotguns and handguns on Feb. 27, 2009. The firearms were discovered when law enforcement officers, investigating a series of burglaries, executed a search warrant at Olten’s residence. Under federal law, it is illegal for anyone who has been convicted of a felony to be in possession of any firearm or ammunition. Olten has prior felony convictions for burglary, resisting arrest, stealing and receiving stolen property.

Olten also admitted that 17 of those firearms had been stolen.

Under federal statutes, Olten is subject to a mandatory minimum sentence of at least 15 years in federal prison without parole, plus a fine up to $500,000. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the United States Probation Office.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jim Lynn. It was investigated by the sheriff’s departments in Cole County, Moniteau County, Callaway County and Miller County, the Missouri Department of Probation and Parole and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

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