Prosecutors said a former Ohio police chief used his badge in a machine gun smuggling scheme aimed at reselling more than 200 weapons of war.
Dorian LaCourse was sentenced to three years’ probation for his role in purchasing a fully automatic machine gun, which was later sold for a very high price, the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Indiana said.
LaCourse, who oversaw a police department in a small Ohio village, would spend six of those months in home confinement.
Federal laws prohibit the purchase or transfer of fully automatic machine guns, unless an exception is exploited, LaCourse, 66, for law enforcement.
Working with two federally licensed Indiana gun dealers, LaCourse signed several letters falsely stating that the Village of Edison Police Department wanted to purchase a variety of machine guns, including military-grade.
Those letters were then sent to the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to obtain the weapons by co-conspirators Jonathan Markham, 34, and Christopher Petty, 58. Two men were supposed to give a demonstration of the department with guns, but never did.
LaCourse also ordered direct German-made machine guns, which he said were paid for by his department, but were instead purchased by Markham and Petty.
The US Attorney’s Office said the machine guns were sold for five or six times the purchase price
Markum and Petty pleaded guilty to charges related to the scheme and would be sentenced at a later date.
LaCourse originally faced 17 charges related to the crime, but pleaded guilty to three of them in April, according to Fox 19. Prosecutors sought six years in prison as part of the plea agreement, the television station reported.
The Fed said more than 200 machine guns had been obtained illegally and that officials had confiscated more than 100 machine guns, 52,500 rounds of ammunition and $6,000 in cash from LaCourse’s office desk.
LaCourse was the only full-time officer for the village of about 1,000 people.
US Attorney Zachary Myers said in a statement, “Law enforcement officers are sworn to protect our communities and uphold the law, and the public has a right to expect that police powers are used for the public good.” to be done.”
“Instead, the defendant sold his badge to facilitate a criminal machine gun smuggling plot. With heartbreaking regularity, we see the genocide that criminals can attack our communities with weapons of war.” Today’s sentence shows that officers who violate public trust by completely disregarding public safety will be held accountable.
LaCourse collected over $11,500 from her role. As part of the sentence, he was fined $11,800.
An AFT agent called the plot a “gross betrayal of public trust”.
“LaCourse has committed a serious betrayal of public trust by engaging in this machine gun smuggling scheme,” said Travis S. Riddle, AFT’s acting special agent in charge of the Columbus Division. “I hope this sentence serves as an example to anyone else who may be tempted to betray their oath of office and their responsibility to their community.”
