Three-Time Felon Who Sold a Semi-Automatic Rifle Sentenced to 30 Months

     PHOENIX – On Feb. 11, 2019, Ryan Patrick Michell, 39, of Phoenix, Ariz., was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Hon. G. Murray Snow to 30 months’ incarceration, followed by three year supervised release.  On Sept. 27, 2018, a federal jury found Michell guilty of two counts of felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition.

     In October 2017, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) began to investigate Michell after an attempted suspicious purchase of potassium cyanide from an online marketplace. 

     The testimony at trial showed that on Nov. 27, 2017, Michell sold a Norinco SKS 7.62 x 39 rifle, along with four high-capacity round magazines, and one-hundred rounds of 7.62x39 ammunition to a buyer on backpage.com. On Dec. 1, 2017, the FBI served a search warrant on Michell’s Phoenix home and discovered four rounds of .338 Lapua ammunition.  Michell was not legally permitted to possess firearms or ammunition due to three prior felony convictions in the State of Arizona.

     The investigation was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Postal Service, Tempe Police Department, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The prosecution was handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kristen Brook, District of Arizona, Phoenix.

CASE NUMBER:          CR-17-01690-PHX-GMS 

RELEASE NUMBER:    2019-014_Michell

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