Published January 13, 2015
A former Navy lieutenant accused of illegally selling military equipment has been indicted on charges of possessing dozens of machine guns.
A criminal complaint filed last week against David Carmel alleged unlawful possession of two machine guns, but an indictment handed down by federal grand jury on Thursday accused him of possessing 60 machine guns. None was registered with the National Firearm Registration and Transfer Record.
Carmel's attorney, T. Christopher Kelly, didn't return a message Thursday seeking comment.
Carmel, 32, of Gilman, also faces federal charges in New York of selling stolen U.S. military laser targeting devices and machine gun parts to an undercover agent. Those counts were filed May 21. The U.S. attorney's office in New York didn't return a message Thursday inquiring about the status of that case.
According to the Wisconsin and New York complaints, federal agents discovered someone selling military scopes on the Internet last year. An investigation led to Carmel, who was arrested May 30 in Chippewa County.
According to the New York complaint, Carmel served as a supply officer on the minesweeper USS Shrike and purchased hundreds of unneeded laser sights, machine gun barrels, night vision goggles and machine gun parts for the ship. He was relieved of his supply officer duties for misappropriating government property and misusing his authority.
Carmel told investigators he moved gun barrels and ammunition to Wisconsin when he left the military in November 2005 and had bought machine gun barrels from commercial sources.
Federal investigators in April 2006 discovered someone was trying to sell a "destroyed" riflescope on eBay. By Department of Defense directive, laser scopes must be destroyed when no longer used.
They tracked the account to Carmel's father, who gave his son's telephone number to an undercover agent.
Carmel is due to appear in federal court on Monday.
https://www.foxnews.com/story/former-navy-lieutenant-indicted-on-charges-of-possessing-dozens-of-illegal-machine-guns