A Culpeper man is in prison after federal authorities say they uncovered a plot to manufacture and sell illegal guns.
William T. “Terry” Fant, 39, is in custody at the Petersburg Federal Correctional Institution, serving a two-year term on a felony charge of transferring or possessing machine guns.
According to court records, Fant pleaded guilty in July. In exchange, prosecutors dismissed two similar charges.
U.S. District judge Gerald B. Lee sentenced Fant in November to two years in prison. Fant had faced a maximum of 10 years imprisonment and a $250,000 fine.
A statement of facts written by U.S. Attorney Chuck Rosenberg says that around April 7, an undercover ATF agent met with Fant and another man, Warrenton resident David J. Flohr, at their workplace, Country Chevrolet in Warrenton.
During that meeting, Rosenberg wrote, the two men had a 9 mm, fully automatic machine gun and agreed to sell the weapon to the undercover agent for $1,000.
“In addition,” the statement continues, “Flohr agreed to manufacture nine additional machine guns, identical to the first one, for the (undercover agent) in exchange for $2,000 for each machine gun.”
Over the next month, the statement continues, Fant purchased tubing at a Culpeper County machine shop and used it to modify the nine other guns. On May 8, Fant met the undercover agent behind a Sears store in Fauquier County and handed over the weapons.
In another case document, U.S. Attorney Patrick McDade wrote that based on recorded conversations Fant had with the agent, Fant believed the guns would be transported to Cleveland, Ohio, to be used for illegal purposes, then discarded.
“Only the fact that the buyer was an ATF agent prevented the defendants from placing the weapons into the chain of illicit commerce and being used as weapons of violence,” McDade wrote.
A woman who answered the phone at Petersburg FCI Tuesday morning said that prison policy prevents officers from conveying unsolicited phone messages to inmates. Flohr, who received four years in prison, is also in custody at Petersburg FCI, according to federal records.
Fairfax-based attorney Jonathan Shapiro represented Fant at trial. A secretary said he was in court Tuesday and was not available for comment.
Peter Carr, a spokesman with the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Eastern District of Virginia, said federal guidelines prohibit the release of photographs of inmates.
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