Virginia - ALEXANDRIA, Va. Beach motorcycle gang member sent to prison for gun sale..

OFF THE WIRE
Source: hamptonroads.com/
By Tim McGlone
The Virginian-Pilot
NORFOLK
A former Navy SEAL and onetime president of the Mongols motorcycle gang’s Virginia Beach chapter was sentenced Friday to 18 months in prison for selling a machine gun he brought back from Iraq.
Justin “Itchy” Wilson, 30, also will serve three years of probation. He pleaded guilty in Alexandria federal court to illegally possessing and transferring a machine gun.
The government, according to court papers, sought a 2½-year sentence citing evidence of a plot to commit insurance fraud as well as Wilson’s affiliation with “a dangerous gang.” The government also alleged that Wilson obtained the weapon from an Iraqi insurgent he had shot dead. Wilson denied that.
“A lengthy period of incarceration will also send an important message that individuals who seek to sell war trophy weapons in the United States will be punished,” a federal prosecutor wrote to the judge.
Wilson’s attorney submitted more than 70 pages of Navy commendations and letters as well as a three-page letter from Wilson seeking leniency.
U.S. District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema agreed, sentencing Wilson to six months less than the minimum recommended under federal sentencing guidelines.
Wilson admitted he sold a fully automatic, AK-style machine gun to an undercover agent in Fairfax County in 2008. Wilson told the agent that he brought the machine gun home as a souvenir from his service in Operation Iraqi Freedom. He said he found it in an abandoned warehouse.
Federal agents determined the weapon was made in Russia and was once the property of the Iraqi Armed Forces. In a recorded conversation with an undercover federal agent, Wilson was heard to say that he “killed the dude” who had the gun.
The government also noted that Wilson sold the gun to an undercover agent who told him he planned on using it against a rival motorcycle gang.
At the time of the offense, Wilson was the president of the Virginia Beach chapter of the Mongols motorcycle gang, which calls itself a club. The club’s national website now has a blank page under its Virginia Beach chapter link.
Wilson told the judge that he fell on hard times financially after the Navy kicked him out of the SEALs upon learning of his affiliation with the Mongols. He was demoted to machinist and ultimately discharged after he pleaded guilty.
“I did not intend to ruin my career or life,” Wilson wrote to the judge. “I just wanted to ride and have fun.”
Federal authorities have targeted outlaw motorcycle gangs in recent years, charging dozens of members with drug, firearms and violent offenses.
The Mongols Virginia Myspace page has been running a “Free Itchy” campaign.
Tim McGlone, (757) 446-2343, tim.mcglone@pilotonline.com