Ex-Vegas gun store owner sentenced in theft case

LAS VEGAS (AP) - A former Las Vegas gun store owner has been sentenced in federal court in Nevada to three years’ probation for receiving stolen military items including ballistic vests, military meal rations and machine gun weapon mounts from an Army National Guard sergeant.

Former Citadel Gun & Safe owner Jonathan Call didn’t speak in court before sentencing Thursday by Senior U.S. District Judge Lloyd George in Las Vegas.

Call’s lawyer, Richard Schonfeld, said Friday that his client now lives in southern Utah and operates a surplus store that doesn’t sell military supplies or weapons.

“He’s pleased to put this behind him,” Schonfeld said.

Call, 41, pleaded guilty in October to one charge of receiving stolen government property in a plea deal that had prosecutors drop embezzlement and conspiracy charges that could have gotten him up to 15 years in federal prison and a $500,000 fine. His sentencing was first reported by the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Call’s co-defendant, former Nevada Army National Guard member Marco Antonio Reyes, pleaded guilty in March 2012 to the same receiving stolen government property charge.

He acknowledged selling Call about $30,000 worth of military equipment stolen from the Clark County Armory in North Las Vegas. Reyes’ sentencing status was unclear Friday.

The Air Force Office of Special Investigations began an undercover probe after a shipping pallet of military body armor plates was stolen in June from Nellis Air Force Base north of Las Vegas, according to court documents.

The investigation became public when Air Force investigators, the FBI and Las Vegas police raided Call’s gun store just off the Las Vegas Strip in April 2011.

Reyes had been a guard member for 18 years, becoming a sergeant 1st class in the 17th Sustainment Brigade, a command and control unit based in Las Vegas. He was deployed twice to Afghanistan.

Prosecutors said items found during the investigation included pallets of “meals ready to eat” rations, seismic detection units, at least one laser ground pointer, night vision goggles and military chemical warfare suits.

Call told investigators that he received pallets of meal packs, chemical warfare gear, gas masks, chemical lights and weapon mounts from Reyes, court documents said.