Man sentenced to 15 months for illegally possessing firearm
A 59-year-old man with dual citizenship in Australia and Great Britain was sentenced to 15 months’ imprisonment for illegal possession of a firearm.
Senior U.S. District Judge Susan Oki Mollway sentenced Melvyn Gear today in federal court in Honolulu.
A jury convicted him of being an alien illegally in possession of a firearm after a four-day trial ended May 10.
Federal law prohibits a foreign national living in the United States on a nonimmigrant visa to possess any firearms.
Gear was found to be living in the U.S. on a nonimmigrant visa on July 17 when he possessed a rifle, which he had owned in Australia and had been shipped to the U.S.
He lied about it when federal law enforcement officers questioned him.
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The judge rejected the defense’s request for a probationary sentence.
She noted the conviction will likely result in deportation following his imprisonment.
