Department of Justice
For Immediate Release
DeForest Man Pleads Guilty to Selling Firearms Without License
MADISON, WIS. – Scott C. Blader, United States Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin, announced that Eugene Ripp, 66, DeForest, Wisconsin, pleaded guilty yesterday to willfully engaging in the business of dealing firearms without a qualifying federal firearms license.
At the plea hearing, Ripp acknowledged that he sold firearms without a license from October 2015 to December 2016. This occurred after agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives warned Ripp in July 2015 that dealing firearms without a license is unlawful.
Ripp attended gun shows throughout and outside of Wisconsin, and sold firearms using the trade name “Son of a Gun.” Ripp sold multiple AR-15-type pistols to an undercover agent in 2016. In December 2016, federal agents executed a search warrant at Ripp’s residence and seized evidence of his firearms dealing business and over 120 firearms.
Ripp faces a maximum penalty of five years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000. U.S. District Court Judge William M. Conley scheduled sentencing for May 8, 2019 at 1:00 p.m.
The investigation of this case was conducted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The prosecution of this case is being handled by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Antonio M. Trillo and Kevin F. Burke.
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