Evanston Man Guilty Of Attempting To Smuggle 22 Guns To Haiti

CHICAGO — An Evanston man admitted in federal court he tried to smuggle more than 20 guns from Illinois to Haiti. According to federal investigators, he had purchased more than two dozens guns in June 2016 around the north suburbs from firearm dealers and private sellers before attempting to illegally export them to the Caribbean island, where he operated a security business.

Patrick Germain, 45, pleaded guilty Thursday to sending a rifle, five shotguns and 16 handguns from the north suburbs through Florida and on to Haiti, according to a plea agreement entered in federal court in Chicago on Tuesday. To do so, he built a wooden box filled with guns and ammo and hid it underneath various furniture in a cargo van, which wound up being intercepted by federal agents before it ever got to Haiti.

Agents from the Department of Commerce, the Department of Homeland Security and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives began an investigation as to how the guns purchased in Illinois in June 2016 wound up in Florida, hidden in a van scheduled to be shipped to Haiti, according to court records.

The investigation revealed Germain had bought 26 guns from individuals and firearms dealers in the Chicago area between June 1 and June 7, 2016, according to a redacted version of the sealed August 2016 criminal complaint released Thursday after his guilty plea was entered.

Germain, the holder of a valid Firearms Owners Identification Card, purchased 18 of the guns he acquired that week from a gun dealer in Vernon Hills. They included 13 pistols, five shotguns and various accessories he purchased for about $6,221 in cash.

During a June 7 meeting with an employee of the gun dealer, Germain said he runs a security firm in his native Haiti and bought the weapons to ship to Haiti to support the business, according to the affidavit from an agent with the Commerce Departments Bureau of Industry and Security. (According to an online resume, Germain is the CEO of a company called Karl's Sécurité based in a suburb of the Haitian capitol of Port-au-Prince. The company's website says it specializes in the secure transport of goods.)

Germain also bought a gun in a private sale on June 3 for about $300 in an Evanston parking lot from someone who had posted it for sale online, according to the complaint. During the sale Germain told the seller he had recently purchased multiple guns and was interested in buying more if they were available.

One of the other guns was purchased on June 3 from a firearm dealer in Winthrop Harbor, according to the feds. ATF agents learned Germain had bought at least 10 firearms from the north suburban gun dealer between August 2013 and July 2016.

On June 4, 2016, Germain purchased another gun he found for sale online from a private seller in Park Ridge for about $465 after sending an email reading, "hell what's the best you will take for your gun," according to the charges. They met at a grocery store to complete the deal.

On June 5, 2016, Germain bought another gun from a licensed dealer in the unincorporated Lake County community of Prairie View, according to the complaint. A few days later he purchased plywood from a hardware store and brought it back to the Evanston home of a relative where he was staying.

Federal investigators said Germain paid to ship three vehicles, but only a red Ford van contained any illegal exports. The van was "stacked floor to ceiling," which investigators described as a common technique used by smugglers.

According to Germain's guilty plea, he built a wooden container with a hidden, hollow space and a wooden lid using about 25 sheets of plywood before delivering the van and two more of his vehicles to a Deerfield-based shipping company on June 13. He paid the firm to send the vehicles off to Florida.

Thomas Leinenweber, his listed attorney, said the guilty plea was the “best thing for Germain and his young family.” He said Germain “accepts responsibility for his mistakes and looks forward to getting this incident behind him.”

Germain agreed to cooperate with prosecutors as part of the agreement.

The federal offense of smuggling carries a maximum sentence of 10 years imprisonment. A sentencing hearing was set for Jan. 29, 2019.