Verona Man Gets 22 Months In Jail For Selling Guns To ATF Agent

VERONA, NJ — A Verona man was sentenced to 22 months in jail for selling an undercover ATF agent three, illegally-owned guns, federal prosecutors recently announced.

On Friday, David Lutter, 69, of Verona, was sentenced to 22 months in prison for possessing three guns as a previously convicted felon, including a replica Thompson submachine gun that he modified into a working automatic firearm, the U.S. Attorney’s Office of New Jersey stated.

In addition to the prison term, Lutter was sentenced to two years of supervised release.

Lutter pleaded guilty in July. He faced up to 10 years in prison, prosecutors previously said.

According to court documents, in January 2017, Lutter met with an undercover agent from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and negotiated the sale of a functioning Thompson submachine gun. The gun had originally been a replica, but Lutter had modified it with real gun parts to convert it into a functioning automatic firearm, which, according to Lutter, could fire 20 to 25 bullets per second.

Lutter had also equipped it with what he called a “rock-and-roll switch,” which could toggle between semi-automatic and automatic mode, prosecutors said.

Lutter was prohibited from selling or possessing firearms due to a 1993 felony conviction for sexual assault of a minor, prosecutors said.

According to federal prosecutors:

“Lutter sold the undercover agent the submachine gun, a .32-caliber revolver, and 100 rounds of ammunition for $525. A few months later, in May 2017, Lutter sold the undercover agent a .45-caliber semi-automatic pistol, bullets and gun parts for $500. When Lutter was arrested in June 2017, law enforcement searched a storage facility he rented and recovered several hundred additional bullets and firearm parts. All three firearms and the recovered ammunition are in the possession of law enforcement.”

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