Modern Arms & Optics Co-Owners and Federal Firearms Licensees Sentenced to Federal Prison for Straw Purchases and Other Firearms Law Violations

DENVER – The United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado announces that Campbell Slayden, 26, co-owner of Modern Arms & Optics LLC, was sentenced to 50 months in federal prison, following a guilty plea to one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States and one count of possession of an unregistered firearm.  Anthony Gallegos, 26, the other co-owner of Modern Arms & Optics, was sentenced to 36 months in federal prison on March 11, 2025, following a guilty plea to one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States.

According to Slayden’s and Gallegos’s plea agreements, Modern Arms & Optics, a federal firearms licensee and dealer, engaged in business at a residence on Raleigh St. in Denver, and also at numerous gun shows in Colorado.  While conducting the business, Slayden and Gallegos engaged in deceptive acts to hide information, mislead, and avert further inquiry into their business from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) by concealing their unlawful firearms manufacturing practices in federally required records.  Furthermore, they transferred firearms to people not legally allowed to own firearms through a practice often referred to as “straw purchasing.”

A straw purchase occurs when the transferee or buyer who undergoes the background check and completes the necessary federal forms is not the true transferee or buyer.  In this manner, persons prohibited from possessing firearms or wishing to hide their acquisitions of firearms can obtain firearms without undergoing background checks.  Slayden and Gallegos would send out electronic links that allowed federal background check forms to be filled out, privately and out of view, by anyone with access to the link.  This allowed the straw purchasers, or in some cases the prohibited firearm buyers themselves, to easily supply false and fraudulent misrepresentations regarding the true purchasers of the firearm.  When suspicious of an in-person straw purchase, Slayden and Gallegos would fail to conduct reasonable inquiries into the true purchaser and would transfer the firearm to the transferee or buyer whom he knew or had reasonable cause to believe was not the actual buyer.

ATF’s investigation also led to federal convictions against others who committed their own firearms crimes facilitated by Modern Arms & Optics:

           Aurianna Aguilar, 24-cr-0085-PAB

           Leonel Castillo, 23-cr-00326-NYW

           Jacob Cohen, 23-cr-00465-RMR

           Glory Goodrich-Devere, 24-cr-00175-RMR

           Dario Sanchez, 23-cr-00394-REB

“Gun shop owners and dealers have a crucial role in ensuring that firearms do not fall into the hands of criminals.  That role is to follow federal firearms laws.” said Acting United States Attorney J. Bishop Grewell.  “If they do not, we will prosecute them.”

“This case underscores the devastation of violent crime,” said ATF Special Agent in Charge Brent Beavers. “ATF remains committed to targeting violent criminals and using all available resources to protect our communities."

Judge Gordon P. Gallagher presided over both sentencings.  The cases were investigated by ATF.  Assistant United States Attorney Albert Buchman handled the prosecutions.

Case Numbers:  24-cr-00034-GPG (Slayden) and 24-cr-00224-GPG (Gallegos)