Bill Starks
State Researcher
imported post
Man pleads guilty to illegal cache of weapons Arsenal, including explosives, found in Bellevue storage unit By PAUL SHUKOVSKY
P-I REPORTER
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/403337_grenade13.html?source=rss
A 65-year-old Spokane man pleaded guilty Thursday to having an arsenal of illegal military weapons and explosives in a Bellevue storage unit.
Agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives arrested Ronald Struve in January after his cache of weapons -- which included dozens of machine guns and blocks of C-4 plastic explosives -- was discovered by a man who bought at auction the contents of the storage unit at 12863 Northup Way after the unit's rent went unpaid, according to a criminal complaint.
ATF agents received a call from the winning bidder at the auction in November, who explained that there were firearms among the items he had bought "and that he wanted ATF to examine the firearms to determine whether they were legal to possess."
Over the next two days, agents found crates of firearms, munitions and high explosives, including 54 40 mm M406 grenades, the complaint says. They also found silencers, flares, CS gas grenades, 41 pounds of gunpowder and blasting caps.
Agents tracked Struve to Spokane, where he was arrested Jan. 6 and returned to Seattle.
Struve pleaded guilty Thursday to five felony counts, including possession of plastic explosives, a North Vietnamese machine gun, a silencer, a grenade and a grenade launcher. Federal prosecutors said much of the arsenal had been stolen from the military.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Tom Woods declined to say what motive Struve had for collecting the weapons other than to note that Struve had said "he might have to use it some day."
Under terms of a plea agreement, Struve faces a sentence of 63 to 78 months in a federal prison.
Man pleads guilty to illegal cache of weapons Arsenal, including explosives, found in Bellevue storage unit By PAUL SHUKOVSKY
P-I REPORTER
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/403337_grenade13.html?source=rss
A 65-year-old Spokane man pleaded guilty Thursday to having an arsenal of illegal military weapons and explosives in a Bellevue storage unit.
Agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives arrested Ronald Struve in January after his cache of weapons -- which included dozens of machine guns and blocks of C-4 plastic explosives -- was discovered by a man who bought at auction the contents of the storage unit at 12863 Northup Way after the unit's rent went unpaid, according to a criminal complaint.
ATF agents received a call from the winning bidder at the auction in November, who explained that there were firearms among the items he had bought "and that he wanted ATF to examine the firearms to determine whether they were legal to possess."
Over the next two days, agents found crates of firearms, munitions and high explosives, including 54 40 mm M406 grenades, the complaint says. They also found silencers, flares, CS gas grenades, 41 pounds of gunpowder and blasting caps.
Agents tracked Struve to Spokane, where he was arrested Jan. 6 and returned to Seattle.
Struve pleaded guilty Thursday to five felony counts, including possession of plastic explosives, a North Vietnamese machine gun, a silencer, a grenade and a grenade launcher. Federal prosecutors said much of the arsenal had been stolen from the military.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Tom Woods declined to say what motive Struve had for collecting the weapons other than to note that Struve had said "he might have to use it some day."
Under terms of a plea agreement, Struve faces a sentence of 63 to 78 months in a federal prison.