Gardner Man Pleads Guilty to Firearm and Drug Offenses

BOSTON – A Gardner man pleaded guilty yesterday in federal court in Worcester to illegally possessing ammunition and to distributing fentanyl.

Travis Miller, 30, pleaded guilty to one count of being a felon in possession of ammunition and one count of distribution of fentanyl. U.S. District Court Judge Timothy S. Hillman scheduled sentencing for June 27, 2018. In November 2017, Miller and another individual, Edwin Labaw, were arrested after being charged in a criminal complaint. 

According to court documents, Miller met with an undercover federal agent on Sept. 19, 2017, in Gardner, and the agent purchased a double-barrel 12-gauge shotgun, a 9mm Kel-Tech Sub 2000 rifle, and 11 rounds of 12-gauge shotgun ammunition in exchange for $1,200. Miller again met with an undercover agent on Sept. 27, 2017, in Fitchburg, and the agent purchased a 7.62x39mm caliber SKS rifle, along with ammunition and magazines, in exchange for $1,800.  Miller engaged in communications with the undercover agent and a cooperating source regarding other firearms, including a sniper rifle and the potential assembly of a fully automatic AR-style rifle.

Subsequently, Miller sent text messages to the undercover agent offering to sell fentanyl patches and OxyContin pills. On Nov. 3, 2017, Miller met with the agent in Worcester and sold him a .38 caliber revolver with an obliterated serial number, .38 caliber ammunition, 39 fentanyl patches, and 65 OxyContin pills. 

According to court documents, Miller has prior felony convictions and is therefore prohibited from possessing firearms and ammunition.

Labaw pleaded guilty on March 5, 2018, to being a felon in possession of a firearm and is scheduled to be sentenced on July 9, 2018.

For the ammunition charge, Miller faces a sentence of no greater than 10 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000. The charge of fentanyl distribution provides for a sentence of no greater than 20 years in prison, a lifetime of supervised release, and a fine of $1 million. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based on the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

United States Attorney Andrew E. Lelling and Mickey D. Leadingham, Special Agent in Charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Boston Field Division, made the announcement. This case was investigated with assistance from the Worcester Police Department, Gardner Police Department, Fitchburg Police Department, and Massachusetts State Police. Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Abely of Lelling’s Worcester Branch Office is prosecuting the case.