Bangor, Maine: United States Attorney Halsey B. Frank announced that Ryan D. Merrill, 40, of Augusta, Maine, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court by Judge Lance E. Walker to time served (six days) in jail and three years of supervised release for possessing an unregistered silencer. Merrill pleaded guilty on April 23, 2019.
According to court records, on July 17, 2018, officers with the Augusta Police Department responded to a complaint of gunshots in a residential area. Merrill had been firing a.22 caliber rifle at a fox and at small propane tanks behind his home. Officers discovered that Merrill had modified an automotive oil filter and attached it to the muzzle of the rifle using a special adapter in order to suppress the sound of the shots he fired. Merrill had not registered the silencer in the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record and he knew that the possession of the silencer was prohibited by federal law.
The case was investigated by the Augusta Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
