UTAH
A Salt Lake County, Utah man will be sentenced in December after he was convicted last week of one count of dealing in firearms without a license out of his basement and five counts of filing false tax returns, according to officials.
Adam Michael Webber is facing up to five years in prison for dealing in firearms without a license and up to three years in prison for each count of filing a false tax return, as well as a period of supervised release and monetary penalties, officials said.
In three years, officials said Webber earned more than $10 million through his illegal firearms business.
“This defendant repeatedly purchased firearms for resale without a federal firearms license and substantially under reported the gross receipts of the sales on his taxes,” said U.S. Attorney John Huber. “Around 2,000 firearms were involved in this conduct. Evidence at trial showed that Mr. Webber claimed a mere fraction of his gross receipts on his tax forms over a four-year period.”
Based on an agreement reached with the United States in 2007, Webber was barred from applying for a federal firearms license or engaging in the business of dealing firearms, according to authorities.
According to the evidence presented at trial, between 2007 and 2008, Webber was the sole owner of HK Parts, an Internet gun parts business that operated originally as a sole proprietorship and later as an S corporation.
In 2008, Webber added firearms to his product line and primarily sold them on the Internet at hkparts.net[external link].
He also sold firearms and firearm parts out of the basement of his residence.
Webber never held a federal firearms license and, from 2009 through May 2012, illegally sold firearms under the auspices of a company owned by another Utah resident. Webber also sold firearms to undercover Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives or ATF agents on two separate occasions, including selling one firearm for cash in a parking lot.
In May 2012, approximately $180,000 in cash, a 70 pound silver bar, silver coins and firearms were found at Webber’s residence during the execution of a search warrant, officials said.
From 2007 through 2010, Webber earned more than $10 million from his illegal firearms business.
For those years, he reported only a total of $183,397 in gross receipts, underreporting his earnings on his 2007, 2008 and 2009 individual income tax returns and underreporting gross receipts on his 2009 and 2010 corporate tax returns.
In 2010, Webber paid $670,000 in cash for a new home in Salt Lake County, officials said.
“The laws regulating the buying and selling of firearms exist to prevent criminals and other prohibited people from illegally accessing firearms,” said ATF Special Agent in Charge Ken Croke. “By circumventing these laws, Webber knowingly and intentionally put people’s lives at risk.”