KEITH D. GILBERT, 66, of Seattle, Washington was convicted today of Conspiracy to Manufacture Unregistered Firearms, Felon in Possession of a Firearm, seven counts of Possession of a Machine Gun, and two counts of Possession of an Unregistered Firearm. After a four day trial, the jury deliberated for about eight hours over two days before returning the guilty verdicts. The jury was unable to reach a verdict on one count in the indictment and the charge was withdrawn.

GILBERT was arrested February 15, 2005 during the execution of a search warrant on his home in the Roosevelt neighborhood of Seattle. Inside the home authorities found seventy firearms, some of them were fully automatic machine guns and some were short barreled guns. GILBERT was prohibited from possessing any firearms due to two 1966 convictions in California for Possession of Stolen Property and Assault with a Deadly Weapon. Prior to the search, GILBERT sold four firearms, including two machine guns, to a confidential informant working for law enforcement.

Testifying in his own defense, GILBERT tried to claim he sold the guns to the informant in order to challenge federal gun laws. Assistant United States Attorney Andrew Friedman countered “This case isn’t about the right to possess guns, this is about trafficking in dangerous weapons.”

GILBERT moved to the Seattle area from North Idaho where he once served as an aid to the leader of the Aryan Nations white separatist group. GILBERT split off from the Aryan Nations to form his own Neo-Nazi group in the 1970s. In the 1960's, GILBERT served several years in prison in California after he was found with 1,400 pounds of stolen dynamite in his Los Angeles apartment. Authorities at the time said the dynamite was part of a plot to kill Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.

GILBERT is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Marsha J. Pechman on December 15, 2006. Conspiracy is punishable by up to five years in prison. Felon in Possession of a Firearm, Possession of a Machine Gun and Possession of an Unregistered Firearm are punishable by up to ten years in prison.

The case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives (ATF) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Andrew Friedman and Special Assistant United States Attorney Andrew Colasurdo. Mr. Colasurdo is a King County Deputy Prosecutor specially designated to prosecute gun cases in federal court.

For additional information please contact Emily Langlie, Public Affairs Officer for the United States Attorney’s Office, at (206) 553-4110.

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