An El Paso FBI agent is headed off to prison.
John Shipley, now formerly of the FBI, was sentenced Tuesday in El Paso to two years in prison for illegally selling more than $118,000 worth of guns without a license and lying to ATF agents about the sales.
U.S. District Judge David Briones also ordered Shipley to be under supervised release for three years after serving in prison and that he forfeit 17 firearms including two 50 caliber Barrett rifles, ammunition, a silencer and $7,340 seized during the execution of a search warrant, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
A federal jury convicted him in April after less than three hour of deliberation. He was busted while working for the FBI and then put on unpaid leave.
ATF agents arrested Shipley last year after tracing back to him a .50 caliber rifle that was used in a drug cartel shootout in Chihuahua, Mexico, authorities said.
“This investigation shows ATF’s commitment into stopping the illegal trafficking of firearms that are fueling the cartel violence south of the border,” Robert Champion, ATF special in charge of the Dallas Division, said in a statement.
OTHER STORIES OF INTEREST
- Reputed Mobster in Fla. Scam Admits Guilt (AP)
- Relatives Say Va. Shooter Warned of Attack (AP)
- 4 Teens Involved in Hate Stabbing Face Sentencing (AP)
- DeLay Asks that Trial Be Moved From Liberal Austin (AP)
- New York Mayors Says Stopping Mosque Compromises Terror Fight (AP)
- FBI Joins Hunt for Escaped Colo. Inmate (AP)
- Drug War Sends Bullets Whizzing Across the Border (AP)
- New Orleans Cops Were Given OK to Shoot Looters after Katrina (Times-Picayune & ProPublica)
