LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) - A gun dealer and former candidate for mayor of Holdrege has been sentenced to 2 1/2 years in federal prison for illegally having a gun silencer.
Federal prosecutors for Nebraska said in a news release this week that Joseph Melton, 31, was sentenced Friday to 30 months in prison after pleading guilty to one count of possession of an unregistered silencer.
Melton was part owner of Leadfoot, a Holdrege gun shop and manufacturer that had obtained a federal firearms license to manufacture and sell silencers. During a compliance check in 2017, federal agents found the unlicensed silencer inside the business, authorities said. Inspectors with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives also uncovered 17 other violations of federal codes and statutes related to the operation of a firearms business.
Prosecutors said Melton told the inspectors he had received that silencer as payment or trade from a customer. But investigators found it was not registered to either Leadfoot or to Melton in the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record database as required for silencers.