A Pennsylvania man has been charged with selling machine guns and other firearms and ammunition stolen from a federal storage facility in West Virginia.
Richard Adam Schreiber, 38, of Everett, was indicted Tuesday after federal agents seized about 100 guns, more than 1,300 gun components and nearly 124,000 rounds of ammunition.
Prosecutors said Schreiber plotted with a security guard who pilfered the weapons and ammunition from a gun-disposal facility in Martinsburg, West Virginia, operated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The guard, Christopher Lee Yates, told authorities he’d get to work early and make off with guns, gun parts and ammo that had been seized during criminal investigations or were retired by federal agencies.
Prosecutors said Schreiber bought some of the stolen weapons from Yates and then sold them over the internet. According to court documents in Yates’ case, Scheiber admitted that Yates sold him at least 15 rifles, at least 80 handguns - most of which were retired ATF duty weapons - and four fully automatic machine guns. Prosecutors said at least three of the stolen machine guns were recovered from the people to whom Schreiber had sold them.
The scheme began unraveling in February 2019 after Philadelphia police recovered a gun with a slide whose serial number indicated it had already been destroyed at the ATF’s Martinsburg facility.
Schreiber faces an Aug. 27 arraignment on eight federal charges. A message was left with his lawyer seeking comment Tuesday.
Yates, who worked for a federal contractor at the site, has pleaded guilty in the case and is due to be sentenced in late August. Yates’ plea agreement calls for a prison sentence of 10 years and a $250,000 fine.
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