New Hampshire Woman Sentenced On Firearm Charge

          CONCORD, N.H. – Sandra Egbert, 26, of Goshen, New Hampshire, was sentenced today in the United States District Court for the District of New Hampshire to 18 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy to make a false statement during the acquisition of a firearm and making a false statement during the acquisition of a firearm, announced Acting United States Attorney Donald Feith.  Upon her release, Egbert will be placed on three years of supervised release which is monitored by the United States Probation and Pretrial Services Office.

          Beginning in March 2014, agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), New Hampshire State Police, New Hampshire Attorney General’s Drug Task Force, Keene Police Department and Boston Police Department were involved in an investigation of the illegal purchase and sale of firearms involving Ronald Scott, Mitchell Riddell and Sandra Egbert.  During the investigation, law enforcement learned that Scott, a Massachusetts resident, solicited Riddell, a New Hampshire resident, to purchase firearms.  Riddell then solicited Egbert, whom he met in a homeless shelter, to purchase the firearms.

          Between March 10, 2014 and April 3, 2015, Egbert purchased nine firearms on four separate occasions.  During each transaction, Egbert made a material misrepresentation to the federally licensed firearms dealer by claiming that she was the actual purchaser of the firearm when she was in fact purchasing the firearms for Riddell. One of the firearms purchased by Egbert was recovered in Boston, Massachusetts during a drug arrest. The other eight firearms have not been recovered.

          Riddell was convicted of conspiracy to make a false statement during the acquisition of a firearm and sentenced to 37 months imprisonment.   Scott was convicted of conspiracy to make a false statement during the acquisition of a firearm, possession of ammunition by a convicted felon and possession with intent to distribute cocaine base (crack) and was sentenced to 33 months imprisonment. 

          “Straw purchasing is designed to avoid the regulatory controls implemented to ensure that firearms are possessed only by those individuals who may legally own them, said Acting United States Attorney Donald Feith.  “Our office will work with laws enforcement to investigate those individuals who seek to end run the regulatory scheme and prosecute those who put firearms in the hands of those persons not legally entitled to possess them.”

          “ATF will continue to combat firearms trafficking, especially the use of straw purchasers to facilitate this illegal trade,” stated ATF Special Agent in Charge Daniel Kumor.  “We will aggressively pursue straw purchasers of firearms because they are responsible for placing guns into the hands of criminals and for placing public safety in jeopardy.”

          The case was investigated by ATF, New Hampshire State Police, New Hampshire Attorney General’s Drug Task Force, Keene Police Department and Boston Police Department.  The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Debra M. Walsh.