Owner Of Bowling Green Market Sentenced To 37 Months In Prison For Weapons Charges

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – The owner of a Bowling Green, Kentucky, market was sentenced today in United States District Court, by United States District Judge Greg N. Stivers, to 37 months in prison and three years of supervised release for multiple weapons charges, announced United States Attorney John E. Kuhn, Jr.

Baraa Fadil Aldabse, 41, of Bowling Green, and owner of Noor Market located on Old Morgantown Road, pleaded guilty in United States District Court on August 25, 2015, to possession of an unregistered short barrel shotgun and possession of firearms (including the short barrel shotgun, an SKS assault rifle, a Rohm .38 caliber revolver, and ammunition), by a person convicted of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence.

According to the plea agreement, Bowling Green Police received information that Aldabse was selling packages of synthetic marijuana from his business. Based on the information, law enforcement officials obtained and executed a search warrant for the market, where several packages of synthetic marijuana were seized as well as a .38 special caliber revolver.  Aldabse admitted to selling synthetic marijuana from his business.

Aldabse gave law enforcement officials permission to search his home on Clearview Avenue and admitted to owning the weapons found there. The weapons found and seized from his home included an SKS rifle located in the closet of the back bedroom as well as a loaded magazine, containing 20 rounds of 7.62 x 39 ammunition lying on top of the rifle. The officers also found a sawed-off shotgun next to the SKS rifle.  The Harrington Richardson, Model Topper 158, .16 gauge, single shot shotgun, had a modified barrel length of 9¼ inches and an overall length of 14 inches with no visible serial number.  The officers located 20 Remington .16 gauge shotgun shells next to the sawed-off shotgun.  Additionally, the officers located a black bag which contained 272 rounds of 7.62 x 39 ammunition.  The modified Harrington and Richardson .16 gauge shotgun was not registered to Aldabse in the National Firearm Registration and Transfer Record.   

On August  31, 2012,  Aldabse  was convicted  of Assault  4th Degree,  Domestic Violence (spouse) Minor  Injury  (Enhanceable) in Warren  District Court Case number 12-M-01797, a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence. He had also previously been convicted of trafficking in synthetic marijuana.  He is currently charged in Warren Circuit Court with trafficking in synthetic marijuana (a felony due to the fact that it is his second offense) and possession of drug paraphernalia.     

Assistant United States Attorney Jo E. Lawless prosecuted the case.  The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) conducted the investigation in connection with the Bowling Green Police Department.