Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
FORT WAYNE - Local gun shop owner Earl Howard was sentenced Friday in U.S. District Court in Fort Wayne after pleading guilty to selling firearms to an unauthorized buyer.
Howard, 60, of Warsaw, was placed on home detention for six months and fined $2,000. He also was placed on probation for three years, during which time he cannot possess any firearms.
Howard was owner of Little Hawk's Guns & Knives, Warren Street, Warsaw, when he was arrested Sept. 12 and charged with several counts of selling a firearm to a convicted felon and failing to keep required records. Through a plea agreement, five of the six charges against Howard were dismissed.
Since his arrest, the gun store was sold and is now operating under new ownership.
Investigators with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms confiscated weapons and documents from the business at the time of Howard's arrest. Kenton D. Terrell, resident agent-in-charge of the Fort Wayne ATF office, previously said the arrest ended nearly a yearlong investigation.
The investigation included the use of a "cooperating individual" who is a convicted felon, Terrell said. The informant, convicted of a felony in Connecticut, was sent by ATF investigators to purchase guns from Howard.
According to federal court documents, the man told Howard he was a convicted felon and Howard allegedly told the man that he could not sell him a gun, but that he could have another person make the purchase for him.
The man reportedly was told by Howard to have a third party buy a gun from him at a Tipton gun show last October. The informant allegedly purchased a gun from Howard's Warsaw store in November and, in March 2002, the informant paid $82 for a rifle from Little Hawk's. The man also received free ammunition for the rifle, and no paperwork was filed to record the transaction, according to court documents.
In August, the informant was able to purchase a rifle from a third party during a meeting at Howard's gun store.
