LOS ANGELES (CNS) — A North Hollywood man has agreed to plead guilty to acting as an unlicensed gun broker by selling 16 rifles and handguns — many without serial numbers — as well as various accessories, the US Attorney’s Office has announced.
Arthur Muradyan, 32, will enter his plea to the federal charge of engaging in the business of dealing in firearms without a license on a date to be determined.
Muradyan also agreed to plead guilty to distributing methamphetamine for selling nearly a pound of the drug to an undercover operative, federal prosecutors said.
Muradyan “willfully offered to, and did, sell firearms, firearms accessories, and ammunition, including: machine guns; semiautomatic firearms with large capacity magazines; firearms bearing no legitimate manufacturer’s mark or serial number — commonly referred to as ‘ghost guns’; and unregistered and unserialized short-barreled rifles,” he admitted in his plea agreement.
Many of the guns had been trafficked from Las Vegas and sold to an informant working with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives last year.
Muradyan sold methamphetamine to the informant on the same day he also sold a semi-automatic 9mm handgun and a machine gun conversion device commonly called a “Glock switch,” according to the plea agreement filed in Los Angeles federal court.
Once he pleads guilty, Muradyan will face a mandatory minimum of 10 years in federal prison for the narcotics distribution offense, and up to five years for the firearms-related offense, prosecutors noted.