Firearms indictments on rise this year, feds say

8/10/2013

Federal prosecutors say they are on track to file more indictments for firearms violations in northern Ohio this year than ever before.

Statistics released this week by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Ohio show there were 124 indictments for illegal firearms in the first half of the year, 16 of which were in the Toledo office. There were 176 such indictments for the district, which includes Cleveland, Akron, and Youngstown, in all of 2012.

Among the cases highlighted in a news release by U.S. Attorney Steven Dettelbach was the July 9 conviction of Toledoan Richard Schmidt on two counts of being a felon in possession of firearms and one count each of being a felon in possession of body armor and trafficking in counterfeit goods. Federal agents reported seizing 18 guns, body armor, and more than 40,000 rounds of ammunition from Schmidt, who had a prior conviction for voluntary manslaughter and was barred from owning firearms.