Three people were named in an indictment involving what was described as a scheme to illegally buy and sell handguns and rifles. According to an affidavit filed in St Louis Federal Court by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, on February 11th, a representative of Mid-America Arms in St. Louis County told the ATF that 36 year old Janette Manion bought seven guns since January, and her boyfriend, 22 year old Jacob Davis had bought eleven just in the past week. Then on February 16th, they came back to buy three more guns each.
When they returned for the guns on February 19th, agents were watching. They saw
Davis enter Mid-America Arms as his brother, 28 year old Kelvin Davis, waited in a nearby store.
Davis bought three guns but ran out of money for a fourth, and said he needed to get the money from his brother. Police and ATF agents arrested them both. Kelvin Davis admitted that he was a convicted felon, which means he is barred from owning a firearm. He also told investigators that he and his brother were selling the guns to others, with a profit of $25 to $50 per gun. Jacob Davis told police that he and Janette Manion were buying guns for Kelvin Davis, who was indicted Thursday for being a felon in possession of a firearm and three counts of making false statements to a firearms dealer. Jacob Davis was indicted on two counts of false statements, and Manion on one.
Licensed firearms dealers are required to report someone's purchase of two or
more firearms within a five-day period to the ATF bureau. Mark Campbell, one of the owners of Mid-America, said the ATF bureau has long asked dealers to also notify them of any unusual pattern of gun purchases. He told authorities;” They never bought ammo or cleaning supplies, it was pretty open that they weren't going target shooting or anything like that with them," They also paid in cash
and bought mostly cheap guns, in the $150 range.
