Brewer Man Pleads Guilty to Charge of Lying to Federal Firearms Dealer

Bangor, Maine:  United States Attorney Halsey B. Frank announced that Floyd Chase, 48, of Brewer, Maine, pled guilty in U.S. District Court to conspiracy to make false statements to a federal firearms licensee. 

According to court records, in February 2018, the Brewer Police Department seized a .380 caliber handgun while executing a narcotics trafficking search warrant in Brewer.  A trace of the firearm revealed that it had been purchased about ten days earlier at an area firearms dealer. Further investigation revealed that the defendant, and others came up with a plan for one of them to falsely claim that she was buying the gun for herself, when in fact, the actual buyer was another individual. The defendant accompanied the two others to the firearms dealer and then directed the woman to purchase the firearm.

The defendant faces up to five years in prison, a $250,000 fine, and up to three years of supervised release.

The case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Brewer Police Department, with assistance provided by the Penobscot County Sheriff’s Office.