Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, August 10, 1995 TAG: 9508100076
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: KATHY LOAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
When the friend exchanged the damaged rifle for another, Greene was stuck with a financial loss.
That's where the case begins that the U.S. government is trying to prove against Greene, who has pleaded not guilty to charges of violating federal weapons laws.
Enter two members of the Blue Ridge Hunt Club: its founder, James Roy Mullins, and Paul Peterson, a Blacksburg gun dealer.
Peterson owed Mullins $300 for a gun he had agreed to buy, according to prosecutors. He arranged for Greene to sell part of the damaged rifle to Mullins in exchange for the gun Mullins had sold Peterson.
"Greene insisted that the serial numbers be taken off" so the rifle couldn't be traced, Assistant U.S. Attorney Don Wolthuis said.
Mullins ground off the serial number with a tool Peterson had brought with him. Mullins then modified the weapon into a machine gun and sent it as a Christmas gift to a North Carolina friend he said would act as a sniper for the hunt club. But his friend wanted no part of the scheme and destroyed the gun.
Greene never noted the transaction in a log book he was required to keep as a federal gun dealer.
Greene, 23, is one of five men charged last year after a Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms investigation of the Blue Ridge Hunt Club, a Pulaski County-based citizen's militia. Federal authorities say Mullins and others formed the club in preparation for an armed conflict with the government if federal firearm laws became stricter. Authorities say club members conspired to violate federal guns laws and conceal the identity of gun buyers by arranging straw purchases of the weapons.
Peterson, who pleaded guilty earlier this year to four charges, was the chief witness against Greene on Tuesday. The jury trial may wrap up today in U.S. District Court.
Greene's attorney, Dutton Olinger of Blacksburg, said he's not sure yet if Greene will testify.
Olinger asked the jury to consider Peterson's motives for testifying - to get a lighter sentence than he would if he did not cooperate with the government. Peterson admitted he had been involved in straw purchases and selling guns "off paper" himself. "Off paper" is the term used to describe sales that aren't logged, as federal law requires.
Peterson, who works as a small engine repairman, testified he met Greene in 1991 at a shooting range in Roanoke. Peterson said the two "gun fanciers" developed a friendship and both became federally licensed firearms dealers at about the same time.
Peterson testified that he told Greene the damaged rifle probably was worth $100, but Greene thought it was worth triple that because he was not logging it.
"There would be no paper trail ... " Peterson explained to the jury. "If a person was so inclined, he could do whatever he wanted to do with the weapon" without fear of it being traced back to them.
Scott Fairburn, the ATF agent who worked with informant Raeford Nelson Thompson to infiltrate the hunt club, testified that Mullins had detailed plans for breaking into the Pulaski National Guard Armory and killing any law enforcement officers who tried to stop them. The plan included timing the attack for the midnight shift change, designing a ruse to direct officers' attention to another part of town and laying a large tree across a road so officers responding would strike it and careen off the highway, Fairburn said.
Mullins was sentenced to five years in prison after pleading guilty to seven of 13 charges against him. Peterson pleaded guilty to four counts and has not yet been sentenced. Dennis Frith, a former painter and Radford Army Ammunition employee, pleaded guilty Tuesday to conspiring to violate federal firearms laws. He will be sentenced later.
William Stump II, who is representing himself, will be tried in September. Wednesday, he sat on the front row of the courtroom, taking notes.
by CNB