dumont man sentenced after selling machinegun
Contact: Peter Deegan
A man who sold a machinegun to an undercover officer was sentenced on February 9, 2011, to five years’ federal probation.
Paul Hilsman, age 51, from Dumont, Iowa, received the sentence after a September 28, 2010, guilty plea to one charge of possessing an unregistered machinegun.
On May 7, 2010, an undercover operation was conducted using an Iowa Division of Narcotics Enforcement Agent. Hilsman was a marijuana and methamphetamine user and sold the Agent a machinegun for $400 cash. The machinegun was an AK-47 style rifle, and Hilsman said the firearm was fully automatic. He had received the machinegun from his father who had been in the military. The gun was not registered to Hilsman as required by law.
Hilsman was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Chief Judge Linda R. Reade. Hilsman was sentenced to five years’ probation, and a $100 special assessment was imposed. As part of his probation, he was ordered to serve 180 days’ home confinement and 5 consecutive weekends in custody.
This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Bob Teig as part of Project Safe Neighborhoods, a cooperative local, state, and federal program aimed at the enhanced prosecution of gun crimes. The case was investigated by the Iowa Division of Narcotics Enforcement and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives.
Court file information is available at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl. The case file number is CR 10-3028.
