Date: 03-18-2017

Case Style:

Case Number: 3:16-cr-00211-L

Judge: Sam A. Lindsay

Court: United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas (Dallas County)

Plaintiff's Attorney: Kate Rumsey and Chad Meacham

Defendant's Attorney: John Teakell

Description: Dallas, TX - Federal Jury Convicts Man in Conspiracy To Illegally Manufacture Firearms That Were Sent To Mexico

A federal jury convicted Gary Busby, 63, formerly of Flower Mound, Texas, on one count of conspiracy to manufacture firearms without a license and four counts of structuring transactions to evade reporting requirements.

Specifically, in December 2010, Busby met an individual at a gun show and sold him firearms knowing he did not have federal firearms licenses (FFL). Busby agreed to manufacture AR-15 and AK stripped receivers into fully functional firearms in a series of transactions until December 2011. At some time during that period, Busby became aware that the firearms he was manufacturing, and the firearms he agreed to manufacture, had and would be sent to Mexico.

In January 2011, officers with the Hidalgo Police Department recovered fifteen firearms, hidden in a gas tank of a vehicle attempting to enter Mexico. Seven of those firearms were traced directly to the conspirators in this case, including Gary Busby.

In February 2011, officers with the Fort Worth Police Department saw Busby at a gun show negotiating gun purchases for this individual. Busby would contact potential sellers and negotiate the price. A firearm purchased at this gun show was later recovered in Mexico.

During a search of Busby’s residence in July 2011, federal agents catalogued all the firearms and ammunition at the residence. That same day, Busby signed a letter putting him on notice that he was to cease and desist in engaging in the business of selling firearms without a license and advising him that several of the firearms he had sold had been recovered during criminal activities. In spite of the notification, one of the firearms catalogued that day at Busby’s residence was later found in Mexico by authorities.

Over the course of 2010 and 2011, evidence showed that Gary Busby manufactured hundreds of AR-15 and AK firearm receivers into fully functional firearms and made thousands of dollars doing so. Law enforcement found approximately fifty of those firearms as they were being smuggled into or recovered in Mexico. The government also presented evidence showing that Busby lied on ATF forms related to firearm purchases, specifically of receivers, by stating that he was the actual buyer of the receiver, knowing that he would sell or trade that receiver to third parties.

Evidence also showed that from approximately December 2010 to September 2012, Busby purchased hundreds of postal money orders at dozens of post offices in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, in an effort to hide the proceeds of his illegal firearm activity. Busby would only purchase two $1,000 money orders at a time at one post office, using cash, and would travel to up to six post offices in one day, purchasing $2,000 in money orders at each. Doing so, he was knowingly evading the federal reporting requirement for when a customer purchases $3,000 or more in money orders. In 2011 alone, Busby purchased approximately $236,000 in postal money orders, in order to hide the money made manufacturing firearms. Evidence presented to the jury showed that he knowingly structured these cash transactions.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service investigated.

Outcome: Guilty

Plaintiff's Experts:

Defendant's Experts:

Comments: