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Owner of store that sold Newtown gun pleads guilty

Lee Higgins, The (Westchester County, N.Y.) Journal News 10:11 p.m. EDT August 22, 2013

The misdemeanor charges against store owner David LaGuercia are not related to the sale of the Bushmaster

rifle used by Adam Lanza in the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre.

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. -- The owner of the Connecticut gun store that sold the Bushmaster rifle used in the

Newtown massacre pleaded guil ty Thursday (http://www.lohud.com/article/20130822/NEWS02/308220051

/Newtown-massacre-Gun-dealer-pleads-guilty-federal-charges) to federal charges stemming from gun sales t

two other customers.

David LaGuercia, owner of Riverview Gun Sales in East Windsor, which was raided days after the massacre,

pleaded guilty in federal court to misdemeanor charges of transferring a firearm before completing a background check and failing to maintain proper

firearm records. The company also pleaded guilty, through him, to a misdemeanor charge of making false entries in dealer's records from January 2010

through December 2012.

None of the charges are related to the store's sales to Nancy Lanza of the Bushmaster rifle and a SIG Sauer pistol, both found at the scene of the Dec.14 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School, where her son, Adam Lanza, killed 26 people, 20 of them schoolchildren.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Rob Spector said in court that the government also had evidence LaGuercia and Riverview were transferring handguns to a

dealer in Massachusetts.

"That dealer in Massachusetts was then selling those handguns unlawfully," he said.

STORY: Gun seller pleads guilty to charge related to Newtown (http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/06/25/bushmaster-rifle-newtown-

shooting/2456335/)

Most of the guns, he said, were Glocks that could be legally sold in Connecticut, but not in Massachusetts. Customers would come to Riverview from

Massachusetts to pick out guns they wanted transferred, he said.

LaGuercia's lawyer Robert Altchiler said in court that he has "strongly disagreed" with prosecutors on those claims and whether there were any violation

The Journal News reported in April that the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives found more than 500 violations of federal

firearms laws and regulations at the store, some dating to 2007, but didn't revoke LaGuercia's federal firearms license until after the massacre.

LaGuercia, 56, of Broad Brook, Conn., will likely get probation and be spared any time behind bars. LaGuercia and the store could also face fines.

It marks the second guilty plea in the case since ATF agents raided the store in the days after the massacre. In June, former store employee Krystophe

Dibella, 25, of West Suffield, Conn., who sold the Bushmaster to Nancy Lanza, pleaded guilty in federal court in Bridgeport to a misdemeanor charge of

aiding and abetting a failure to make a proper entry on an ATF 4473 form, which is a firearms transaction form. The charge stemmed from a sale to a

different customer.

Under LaGuercia's plea agreement, he won't be able to apply to be a federal firearms licensee for five years from the date of sentencing or be the

responsible party for a licensee. He has held a federal firearms license since 2005. Since his license was revoked, his store has been selling ammo and

other accessories.

By making the plea Thursday afternoon, LaGuercia admitted selling a Ruger LCP on May 5, 2010, to a customer prior to completing a national instant

criminal background check. He also admitted failing to report the sale of multiple handguns to a customer on Nov. 27, 2010. Under federal law, the sale

two or more handguns to the same customer must be reported if the guns are sold at the same time or within five business days of each other.

By the time LaGuercia is sentenced on Nov. 14, he must sell his remaining inventory of firearms and firearm parts to an FFL, the plea agreement says.

LaGuercia, who has no prior criminal record, will not be prohibited from having a gun or pistol permit.

Connecticut State Police have not yet issued a report on the Newtown massacre, but are expected to do so this fall.

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