Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives

Bangor, Maine:  United States Attorney Halsey B. Frank announced that Zachary Morneault, 34, of Levant, Maine, pled guilty today in U.S. District Court to conspiring to make false statements to a federal firearms licensee. 

 

According to court records, in late February 2018, the defendant conspired with two others to lie to a Brewer federal firearms licensee in connection with the purchase of a .380 caliber handgun.  In connection with that purchase, the defendant convinced Amy Bingaman to falsely represent that she was buying the handgun for herself, when, in fact, the actual buyer was another conspirator who was paying to make the purchase.  The defendant drove Bingaman and the other conspirator to the firearms dealer and then directed Bingaman to purchase the handgun. The handgun was recovered during the execution of a narcotics trafficking search warrant in Brewer. 

 

The defendant faces up to five years in prison, a $250,000 fine, and up to three years of supervised release.  He will be sentenced after the completion of a presentence investigation report by the U.S. Probation Office.

 

The case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Brewer Police Department, with assistance provided by the Penobscot County Sheriff’s Office.  This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and make our neighborhoods safer for everyone.   Attorney General Jeff Sessions reinvigorated PSN in 2017 as part of the Department’s renewed focus on targeting violent criminals, directing all U.S. Attorney’s Offices to work in partnership with federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement and the local community to develop effective, locally-based strategies to reduce violent crime.