LaVista Man Sentenced for Selling Firearm to a Felon

United States Attorney Steven Russell announced that Bryon S. Bruckner, 34, of LaVista, Nebraska, was sentenced today in federal court in Omaha for selling a firearm to a felon.  United States District Judge Brian C. Buescher sentenced Bruckner to 18 months’ imprisonment, consecutive to his April 19, 2022, Nebraska state sentence of 12 to 14 years for Attempted 1^st Degree Sexual Assault of a Child.  There is no parole in the federal system.  After his federal sentence is complete, Bruckner will begin a 3-year term of supervised release.

On March 3, 2022, Bruckner, while awaiting sentencing in his state case, sold a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives confidential source (and convicted felon) a Walther 9mm handgun.  The illegal sale occurred in the driveway of Bruckner’s residence in LaVista.  The confidential source told Bruckner that he/she was a felon before Bruckner sold the confidential source the gun and yet Bruckner still made the sale.  The sale was audio and video recorded. 

This case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and Omaha Police Department and was part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. The Department of Justice reinvigorated PSN in 2017 as part of the Department’s renewed focus on targeting violent criminals, directing all U.S. Attorney’s Offices to work in partnership with federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement and the local community to develop effective, locally based strategies to reduce violent crime.