Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Brandon D. Martin, 29, of Winchester, has been sentenced to 110 months in federal prison, by Senior United States District Joseph M. Hood, for possessing stolen firearms.

Martin previously admitted that in June 2017, he had possessed five stolen firearms.  Martin admitted that he knew the firearms had been stolen when he pawned them at several pawn shops in the Winchester area.  Law enforcement agents in Clark and    Woodford counties confirmed that these firearms had been stolen from burglaries of residences in Clark and Woodford Counties.  Martin faces state charges in some of these counties for the burglaries.  Martin has previously been convicted of three prior felony offenses.

Martin pleaded guilty to the federal charge in March 2018.

Under federal law, Martin must serve 85 percent of his prison sentence; and upon his release, he will be under the supervision of the United States Probation Office for three years.

Robert M. Duncan, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky;; Stuart Lowery, Special Agent in Charge, ATF; Burl Perdue, Jr., Clark County Sheriff, and James Fugate, Chief of the Versailles Police Department, jointly made the announcement.

The investigation was conducted by the ATF, Clark County Sheriff’s Office, and the Versailles Police Department.  The United States was represented by Assistant United States Attorney Roger W. West.

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.

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