SAN FRANCISCO – LAWFUEL – The Law News Network – United States Attorney Kevin V. Ryan announced that Daniel Edward Rogers was sentenced to 51 months in prison for his role in smuggling 85 machine guns and 4 grenade launchers from Vietnam to San Francisco in 1994. Mr. Rogers was sentenced late yesterday by Judge Maxine Chesney in San Francisco. He pleaded guilty without entering into a plea agreement on April 13, 2005.
Mr. Rogers, 57, of Quilcene, Washington, was originally indicted by a federal grand jury on May 10, 1995, as a result of an investigation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). After learning of the charges, he remained in Southeast Asia, where he lived as a fugitive for nine years until Thai immigration authorities detained him for traveling on a revoked United States Passport in January 2004. ICE agents escorted Rogers out of Thailand and arrested him upon his return to the United States.
U.S. Attorney Kevin V. Ryan stated, “Mr. Rogers, a former law enforcement officer, was apprehended and brought to justice for smuggling over 100 machine guns, grenade launchers and pistols into the United States. Due to the cooperation between the Thai authorities and federal law enforcement, Mr. Rogers, a fugitive for nine years, is now being held accountable for his actions. I want to thank the Thai authorities and federal law enforcement for their tenacity and perseverance.”
Mr. Rogers, who was previously employed for six years as a Jefferson County Sheriff’s Deputy in Washington State, pleaded guilty last April to all counts of the indictment, without entering into a plea agreement. In pleading guilty, Mr. Rogers admitted to acquiring machine guns, grenade launchers, and pistols in Vietnam and arranging for their shipment to San Francisco on two Air France airline flights in 1994. The weapons were sold to an undercover agent of the former United States Customs Service (now U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement). Mr. Rogers and a co-conspirator used the name of a foreign entity, A.T. Ltd., in the transaction.
Karl Anglin, Assistant Special Agent in Charge of the ATF, stated, “I would like to thank our investigation partner ICE. This investigation stopped a conspiracy to deliver extremely dangerous weapons that could have been used in crimes of violence all across the country. The subjects in this case were planning to deliver AK 47, M-16, M-3, and M-60 machine guns, M-79 grenade launchers and numerous handguns to whoever could come up with the money. It is our mission to keep these types of illegal weapons off the streets to protect the public.”
“ICE is working with its law enforcement counterparts around the globe to ensure that the world’s international borders are not barriers to bringing fugitives to justice,” said Charles DeMore, special agent-in-charge for ICE investigations in San Francisco. “Cases like this are an ICE enforcement priority because arms traffickers jeopardize the safety of all Americans, flooding our communities with illegal weapons which end up in the hands of criminals and others bent on doing us harm.”
On May 14, 1994, Rogers smuggled the following weapons to San Francisco:
one M-79 grenade launcher
four AK-47 machine guns
six M-16 machine guns
five Thompson machines guns, and;
ten pistols
On August 28, 1994, Roger smuggled the following weapons to San Francisco:
three M-79 grenade launchers
eleven M-3 machine guns
fifteen Thompson machine guns
twenty-two M-16 machine guns
twenty AK-47 machine guns
two M-60 machine guns
eighteen pistols
A federal grand jury returned a superseding indictment against Rogers on April 8, 2004, charging him with 10 counts of possession and transfer of machine guns, possession of unregistered machines guns and destructive devices (grenade launchers), importation contrary to law, engaging in the business of importing firearms without a license, transportation of machine guns and destructive devices in foreign commerce without a license, and conspiracy to commit these acts, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 922(o), 545, 922(a)(1)(A), 922(a)(4) and 371, and 26 U.S.C. § 5861(d).
The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement cited the case as an excellent example of cooperation between Thai and United States immigration authorities. Mr. Rogers, who had lived in Vietnam with his Vietnamese wife for approximately nine years, was detained by Thai authorities in Bangkok in January 2004 as he attempted to fly to Mexico City, Mexico.
The prosecution is the result of a lengthy investigation by special agents of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Andrew M. Scoble and Kirstin M. Ault are the Assistant U.S. Attorneys who prosecuted the case with the assistance of Legal Technicians Cherell Hallett and Ponly Tu, and Paralegal Lili Arauz.
Further Information:
A copy of this press release may be found on the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s website at www.usdoj.gov/usao/can.
Electronic court filings and further procedural and docket information are available at https://ecf.cand.uscourts.gov/ (click on the link for “to retrieve documents from the court”).
Judges’ calendars with schedules for upcoming court hearings can be viewed on the court’s website at www.cand.uscourts.gov.
All press inquiries to the U.S. Attorney’s Office should be directed to Luke Macaulay at (415) 436-6757 or by email at Luke.Macaulay@usdoj.gov
