Kalispell Man Sold Guns Abroad Using Postal Service, Feds Say

KALISPELL, MT — Eric Daniel Doyle, of Kalispell, orchestrated an elaborate scheme to use the internet to sell handguns to customers in Australia, Norway, Denmark and Sweden — where guns are restricted — and shipped the firearms through the U.S. Postal Service, authorities alleged. Now, Doyle, a captured fugitive, faces dozens of federal firearms violations in Montana.

Doyle, 37, was indicted two years ago but managed to evade authorities before he could be arrested. He was captured in the Mexican state of Sonora last month though and is now scheduled to appear on Tuesday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeremiah Lynch for a detention hearing.

Doyle pleaded not guilty to 44 gun violations and related crimes. His attorney, Andrew Nelson, told The Associated Press that he had no comment on the case ahead of Tuesday's detention hearing in U.S. District Court in Missoula. The judge will decide whether Doyle remains a flight risk.

In 2014, authorities alleged, at least 14 firearms — primarily high-caliber handguns — were shipped by Doyle to customers in Australia, Norway and Sweden, court documents showed. The suspects also tried to export at least one handgun to Denmark and four more to customers in Australia.

Court documents contained only the initials of the buyers. It was unclear if U.S. authorities had reached out to their counterparts in the destination countries to inform them of the sales.

In most cases, the serial numbers on the weapons had been destroyed, according to the 2015 indictment. Many of the guns had been obtained through a "straw purchaser" who would buy firearms from a licensed dealer on Doyle's behalf, according to the indictment.

Doyle was banned from owning guns because of felony convictions in Illinois in 2006 on drug and burglary charges, according to public records.

Four alleged accomplices were previously sentenced. Among them was Doyle's uncle, Jay Isles, also of Kalispell.

In sentencing those defendants last year, U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy said the case had far-reaching implications because the alleged scheme's customers resided in countries with highly-restrictive gun laws. Molloy rejected plea deals that had been offered by prosecutors for everyone in the case but Doyle, saying they were too lenient.

"This is the most obvious conspiracy that I have seen on 20 years on the bench," Molloy said in his sentencing order.

But after attorneys for the other defendants made their cases, Molloy ended up handing down relatively light sentences. The punishments ranged from time already served for Isles, to five years of probation with periods of home confinement for defendants Jeffrey Lee Palmer and Tanna Lee Meagher. Brian Spain received two years of probation.

Defense attorney Peter Leander, who represented Palmer, said his client had been taken advantage of by Doyle, who purported to be Palmer's friend. Prosecutors said in court documents that it was Doyle who first came up with the idea to use the internet to sell firearms to foreign customers.

"It was my impression that he was really manipulating and taking advantage of a lot of guys," Leander said. "The bad guy got away, literally and figuratively, and these guys were left holding the bag."

Photo credit: Jabbacake via Pixabay