Richard Cummings, 43, a former manager at Tri Town Precision Plastics Inc. in Deep River, Conn., has pleaded guilty to violating federal firearms laws, according to the U.S. Attorney's office.
Cummings pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Stefan Underhill in Bridgeport, Conn., to one count of making a false entry in a firearms manufacturer's acquisition and disposition records in March 2011, one count of failing to file a theft/loss report between March 2011 and February 2012 and one count of failing to maintain a manufacturer's acquisition and disposition records in February 2012. The maximum penalty on each of the misdemeanor charges is one year of imprisonment, five years of probation and a $100,000 fine.
Sentencing is scheduled for April 15.
Tri Town had a contract with Smith & Wesson Holding Corp. to manufacture polymer firearm frames in Deep River. Smith & Wesson acquired the company in May 2014 and now operates the facility as Deep River Plastics LLC.
According to court records, the Plainfield Police Department seized a 9 millimeter handgun from a residence in February 2012 and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives learned that Smith & Wesson had no record of the gun having been manufactured. Tri Town's records had indicated that it had been scrapped in 2011.
Court statements indicate that Cummings and a Tri Town employee who had been his subordinate discovered that there were approximately 23 firearms missing from their inventory. Instead of reporting that, they falsely listed them “scrapped” during an ATF firearms license manufacturing renewal process.
In pleading guilty, Cummings admitted that it was his decision to list the firearms as scrapped. At no point prior to the Plainfield gun seizure did he report that they were missing, and that he failed to correct the records to show the missing firearms.
Cummings' former supervisor, Robert Brinkerhoff, 54, pleaded guilty in March 2014 to one count of failing to file a theft/loss report and one count of making false statements in a theft/loss report.