Air National Guard Members Sentenced for Smuggling Firearms Parts and Accessories

ALBANY, NEW YORK – Three members of the United States Air Force Air National Guard have been sentenced for smuggling firearms parts and accessories into the United States.

The announcement was made by United States Attorney Grant C. Jaquith; Special Agent Robert Shearer, Air Force Office of Special Investigations; John B. DeVito, Special Agent in Charge of the New York Field Division of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF); and Kevin Kelly, Special Agent in Charge of the Buffalo Field Office of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). 

Kevin D. Ronca, age 41, of Amsterdam, New York, was sentenced on October 31, 219 to 3 years of probation, to include 3 months of home detention, and a $5,000 fine.  Ronca was a Master Sergeant in the Air National Guard, assigned to the 109th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron at Stratton Air National Guard Base in Scotia, New York.  As part of his plea to conspiracy to import firearms, Ronca admitted that he conspired with another Air National Guard Member, Joseph R. Paludi, to smuggle two firearm silencers Ronca had purchased abroad back to Stratton Air Base aboard a military aircraft.  The silencers were discovered upon arrival in Scotia.

Paludi, age 34, of Schenectady, New York, was sentenced on November 7, 2019 to 2 years of probation and a $4,000 fine for his role in the conspiracy to import firearms.  Paludi was a Technical Sergeant in the Air National Guard, assigned to the 109th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron at Stratton Air Base.

As part of the ensuing investigation, agents discovered that another member of the squadron, Timothy R. Schmitt, age 28, of Galway, New York, also smuggled a silencer and a threaded blackout barrel into the United States aboard a military aircraft.  Schmitt, also a Technical Sergeant, pled guilty on October 3, 2019 to possession of an unregistered firearm.  He was sentenced today to 2 years of probation and a $5,000 fine.

The case was investigated by the United States Air Force Office of Special Investigations, ATF and HSI, and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Douglas Collyer.