SYRACUSE, NEW YORK – Joshua Meighen, age 38, of Seneca, South Carolina, pled guilty yesterday to transferring a firearm and ammunition to a convicted felon, and selling a firearm to an out-of-state resident, announced, United States Attorney Carla B. Freedman and John B. DeVito, Special Agent in Charge of the New York Field Division of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF).
As part of his guilty plea yesterday, Joshua Meighen admitted that while he was living in South Carolina, he contacted a Central New York resident who was known to Meighen as a convicted felon and arranged for a sale through the U.S mails of a Taurus 9mm caliber semiautomatic pistol and 25 rounds of ammunition. Meighen admitted that he sent the pistol and ammunition from South Carolina to Central New York, where it was recovered at a post office facility in Syracuse on October 14, 2021. Meighen further admitted that he also mailed a Phoenix Arms .22 caliber pistol, and a Stoeger 9mm caliber pistol from South Carolina to a New York resident in Binghamton, New York, which were seized on November 10, 2021, by the United States Postal Inspection Service through the execution of a federal search warrant.
Sentencing is scheduled for September 19, 2022, at which time Joshua Meighen faces a maximum sentence of up to 10 years in prison for transferring a firearm and ammunition to a convicted felon, and up to 5 years in federal prison for selling a firearm to an out-of-state resident, as well as a fine of up to $250,000.00, and a term pf post-imprisonment supervised release of up to 3 years. A defendant’s sentence is imposed by a judge based on the particular statute the defendant is charged with violating, the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other factors.
This case is being investigated by the United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the Finger Lakes Drug Task Force, and the Broome County Special Investigations Unit Task Force, and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard R. Southwick.