STORE OWNER FACES GUNS-DRUGS CHARGE

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, February 6, 1993                   TAG: 9302060207
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A-5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: DOUGLAS PARDUE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short
STORE OWNER FACES GUNS-DRUGS CHARGE
The operator of a Clifton Forge trading post has been charged by federal authorities with selling guns in exchange for cocaine.
Oliver Franklin Reid Jr., 46, was arrested late Thursday after a four-month investigation during which he is accused of violating laws regulating the sale of firearms by licensed dealers.
Reid, who is licensed as a firearms dealer, sold guns through his combination store, Oliver's Trading Co. and EZ Money Pawn Shop.
An affidavit filed in the case says Reid was arrested after guns were illegally sold to informants posing as convicted felons and drug suppliers from out of state.
The indictment says the investigation began after Virginia State Police received reports that Reid was illegally dealing in guns and was willing to trade guns for cocaine.
The affidavit, filed by Thomas Gallagher, an agent with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, says informants were virtually coached on ways for convicted felons and out-of-state residents to illegally purchase guns.
On several occasions, the affidavit says, the informants and undercover police were told to simply bring in someone who is from Virginia and had no record and let them fill out the paperwork and pass a criminal background screening.
The affidavit says Reid was arrested after he offered to sell guns for cocaine and met undercover agents at a Covington motel, where he exchanged two handguns for one ounce of cocaine. An ounce of cocaine is worth about $1,200.
Friday, U.S. Magistrate Judge Glen Conrad allowed Reid to go free on $25,000 bond pending a preliminary hearing.

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB