A Villa Rica man who admitted selling sensitive military firearms sights and parts to foreign buyers has been sentenced to three years in a federal penitentiary, authorities said.
Andrew Vincent O’Donnell, 33, also will have to serve three years’ supervised release and pay a $2,500 fine for violating the Arms Export Control Act and possessing short-barrel rifles, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Atlanta.
“The illegal export of U.S. weapons and technology poses a direct threat to our nation's security and to the safety of our troops, officers and agents abroad,” said Brock Nicholson, special agent in charge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations in Atlanta.
O’Donnell operated an eBay online story through which he sold gun parts and accessories, including export-controlled military holographic weapons sights with night vision capability, prosecutors said. He also sold parts used to assemble M4 rifles.
Military items were sent without export licenses to customers in Hong Kong and Japan, prosecutors said. In one case, he marked the shipments as “toys,” and in another, arranged to have the goods shipped out of the country through a third party.
Authorities did not disclose how O’Donnell obtained the parts.
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