Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives

TYLER, Texas – A 52-year-old Farmersville, Texas man has been sentenced to federal prison for firearms violations in the Eastern District of Texas, announced U.S. Attorney John M. Bales today.

Charles Alan Curington pleaded guilty on Oct. 3, 2013, to attempting to sell a machinegun and was sentenced to 27 months in federal prison on Feb. 18, 2014, by U.S. District Judge Michael H. Schneider.

According to information presented in court, Curington recruited a do-defendant, Craig Marcus Cooper, to sell a machinegun for a share of the sale proceeds. On Jan. 31, 2012, Cooper and Colten Barrow traveled together to Duke’s Truck Stop on Highway 64 in Van Zandt County, Texas to meet an individual interested in buying the machinegun. The defendants intended to sell the firearm to the individual for $10,000. However, the buyer was actually an undercover federal agent. The defendants were detained and the 9 mm, fully automatic machine gun with an attached silencer was seized. The machinegun had been reported stolen approximately 10 years earlier. A federal grand jury returned an indictment on Mar. 27, 2013, charging Curington, Cooper and Barrow with firearms violations.

On Jan. 10, 2014, Cooper was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison. On Jan. 15, 2014, Barrow was sentenced to 24 months in federal prison.

This case was prosecuted as part of the Project Safe Neighborhoods Initiative. Project Safe Neighborhoods is aimed at reducing gun and gang violence, deterring illegal possession of guns, ammunition and body armor, and improving the safety of residents in the Eastern District of Texas. Participants in the initiative include community members and organizations as well as federal, state and local law enforcement agencies.

This case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jim Noble.