ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - A St. Charles man has been sentenced for illegally selling hundreds of guns without a license.
Harry Trueblood, 69, was sentenced to five years in prison and 200 hours of community service for illegally selling guns from over two year stretch from January 2021 to May 2023.
Trueblood pleaded guilty in November 2023 to one count of being an unlicensed firearms dealer and admitted selling firearms at least 15 gun shows despite never being licensed to deal in firearms.
The ATF began investigating Trueblood after multiple guns recovered in unrelated crimes were traced back to him as the original purchaser. Trueblood sold AR-15-type pistols and handguns to undercover ATF agents before the ATF on Feb. 1, 2023 sent him a cease and desist letter warning him that he was committing a crime, but he continued selling even after the warning.
“Trueblood was linked to selling over 250 firearms without a Federal Firearms License and over 40 crime guns were traced back him. It is firearm traffickers like this defendant that fuel violence in our communities by putting deadly weapons in the hands of people who commit violent crimes in our communities," said Bernard Hansen, Special Agent in Charge of ATF’s Kansas City Field Division.
Guns sold illegally by Trueblood were recovered at the scene of a homicide, a suicide and other shootings and from felons and a juvenile, with one person who had mental health issues severe enough that he was turned away from two gun stores but found Trueblood and bought a firearm from him, according to U.S. Attorney Jennifer Szczucinski.