A Renton woman has pleaded guilty to purchasing firearms illegally and providing them to others, including gang members, violating the Gun Control Act.
Shannon McCall, 41, is facing three federal felony charges. The first two, conspiracy to violate the Gun Control Act and making a false statement to a government agent, are punishable by up to five years in prison. Making a false statement in connection to purchasing a firearm is punishable by up to 10 years.
The following information is from the U.S. Department of Justice office of U.S. Attorney Brian Moran, from records filed in this case:
According to records, between August 2017 and January 2019, McCall admitted that she illegally purchased six firearms from Ben’s Loan Inc., a federally licensed firearm dealer in Renton. On purchase paperwork, McCall lied and said she was the ultimate purchaser of the firearms, when in fact she purchased the firearms for others.
Both McCall and her son were involved in the scheme. In court filings in his case, prosecutors said that her son modified some of the firearms to be automatic weapons and provided firearms to members of violent street gangs, one of whom had just been released from prison.
McCall told investigators that she did not know how the firearms were used after she purchased them for her son. McCall purchased a firearm for another person, in her name, in exchange for a $200 payment.
When McCall was questioned by agents about her firearms purchases, she initially lied and said the guns were being stored by “Uncle James,” a person she now admits does not exist.
Sentencing before U.S. District Judge James L. Robart is scheduled for Dec. 7.
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