Press Release
San Francisco Resident Sentenced To Six Years In Prison For Manufacturing And Dealing Firearms
For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Northern District of California
Defendant Maintained Arsenal of Nearly Two Dozen Firearms, Including Machine Guns and Ghost Guns, in His North Beach Apartment
SAN FRANCISCO – Craig Bolland was sentenced today to 72 months (six years) in prison after pleading guilty to manufacturing and dealing firearms without a license and several other firearms-related offenses, announced United States Attorney Ismail J. Ramsey and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives (ATF) Special Agent in Charge Jennifer L. Cicolani. The sentence was handed down by the Hon. Vince Chhabria, United States District Judge.
Bolland, 40, of San Francisco, was indicted by a federal grand jury on August 2, 2023, on four charges: (i) manufacturing and dealing firearms without a license, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(a)(1)(A); (ii) being a felon in possession of a firearm, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1); (iii) possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(k); and (iv) possession of a machinegun, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(o). He pleaded guilty to all four charges on September 13, 2023.
In the plea agreement, Bolland admitted, among other things, that, despite not having a license to do so, he was in the business of manufacturing and selling firearms—including hard-to-trace “ghost guns” he manufactured himself using a 3-D printer and parts he had shipped to him—from at least June 2021 through May 30, 2023, the date of his arrest. Bolland admitted he sold at least five of these privately manufactured “ghost guns” (both pistols and rifles), as well as dozens of commercially manufactured firearms—some of which Bolland admitted he modified by installing “switches” that turned semi-automatic weapons into fully automatic weapons—to buyers he knew or had reason to know were criminals who were not legally allowed to possess firearms and who paid Bolland for the guns in cash, cryptocurrency, and/or narcotics.
According to the plea agreement, Bolland, who had previously been convicted of a felony, possessed five firearms on the date of his arrest, including four handguns and a fully automatic AR-15 style rifle with no serial number. He also possessed hundreds of rounds of ammunition of varying calibers. Finally, Bolland admitted in the plea agreement that, in addition to his own firearms dealing, he brokered multiple sales of firearms and ammunition between other sellers and buyers and that he received a commission for brokering such deals.
In addition to the prison term, Judge Chhabria ordered Bolland to serve three years of supervised release to begin after his prison term is completed.
Assistant U.S. Attorney George O. Hageman is prosecuting the case with assistance from Amala James. The prosecution is the result of an investigation by ATF and the San Francisco Police Department.
Updated December 6, 2023
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