A former Bradley County, Tenn., deputy and U.S. Marine today pleaded guilty in federal court to smuggling two AK-47 assault rifles home from Iraq and later selling one illegally.
Matthew Pickett, 33, will be sentenced on the charge Jan. 20, 2011.
The maximum penalty for smuggling is 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Pickett’s attorney, Mary Ellen Coleman, declined to comment.
According to court documents Pickett brought the weapons along with “some grenades” from Iraq to California in a vehicle fuel tank after returning from his deployment in 2005.
While working as a deputy sometime last July or August he sold one of the weapons to another party.
FBI agents conducted the investigation. The U.S. attorney’s office filed information on the case in early August.
For complete details, see tomorrow’s Chattanooga Times Free Press.