A Maryland gun dealer who was indicted alongside Frederick County Sheriff Chuck Jenkins and accused of running a scheme to purchase and rent out machine guns has been found not guilty.
Robert Krop, owner of The Machine Gun Nest, had been charged with conspiracy and making false statements last year. He contended the indictment was based on 鈥減olitical vindictiveness鈥 and has asked a federal judge to drop the case.
Jenkins and Krop were indicted in April 2023 and Jenkins is set to go on trial in January after pleading not guilty and requesting a trial separate from Krop.
Between August 2015 and May 2022, prosecutors said the sheriff 鈥 at Krop鈥檚 request 鈥 wrote bogus letters on Frederick County Sheriff鈥檚 Office letterhead to gun dealers and the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), falsely claiming the machine guns were to be used for demonstration and evaluation purposes for the sheriff鈥檚 office.
However, the guns were actually used as rentals for customers of Krop鈥檚 business, prosecutors said.
In asking the judge to dismiss the indictment, Krop’s attorney said it was filed “for a nonexistent crime, in order to try to remove one of the nation鈥檚 most upstanding and outspoken Sheriffs” over political disagreements with the prosecutor’s office.
Jenkins, who is a Republican, has served as the county鈥檚 sheriff since 2006.
91欧美激情 staff contributed to this report.
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