Memphis man gets 8-year term in gun-theft case

A Memphis man was sentenced to eight years in prison Wednesday for his role in the theft of more than 100 guns in Arkansas that were supposed to be sold in Texas sporting goods stores.

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U.S. District Judge Leon Holmes also ordered Mario Marquell Ward to pay $152,902 in restitution. Ward, represented by Little Rock attorney John Wesley Hall, also will have to spend three years on supervised release once he completes his 96-month sentence.

Ward pleaded guilty in May to one count of possession of stolen firearms, with 10 years in prison the maximum sentence available for the charge. In exchange for the guilty plea, prosecutors dropped a count of conspiring to possess and sell stolen firearms.

A co-defendant, Curtis Earl Evans Jr., also of Memphis, is awaiting sentencing after he pleaded guilty to a stolen-firearms count in June, with prosecutors also dropping the conspiracy charge against him.

A third Memphis man, Markeith Deshun Thomas, has pleaded innocent with his trial scheduled for next month, while a fourth man, Gerry McDuffie, was arrested in July.

The four were accused of plotting to steal 107 firearms from a tractor-trailer rig that was transporting the weapons from a Gander Mountain stores distribution hub in Indiana to stores in Houston, Texas, for sale.

They were accused of targeting the big rig in January while it was parked overnight at a roadside truck parking area on Interstate 55 in Mississippi County and breaking into it to take the guns. Prosecutors said the weapons -- 93 handguns, 12 rifles and two Benelli 12-gauge shotguns, together valued at $39,264 -- were taken to Memphis and sold.

Federal authorities had been investigating more than 80 burglaries of big rigs from late December to early February in Crittenden, Mississippi and St. Francis counties. All occurred along I-55 from West Memphis to north of Turrell in Crittenden County, and along a stretch of Interstate 40 between Forrest City and West Memphis.

Besides guns, thieves also took food, bicycles, Apple MacBook computers, about 65 Goodyear tires, 15 Mongoose bikes and chocolate delight cakes.

Metro on 09/03/2015

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