A Wisconsin man who illegally purchased guns and resold them to a felon in Minneapolis pleaded guilty Thursday in U.S. District Court in St. Paul.
Michael Patrick Coupe, 27, was convicted of one count of conspiracy and one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm.
Coupe was charged March 22 along with co-defendant Jamie Fleming, 30, both of Hayward, Wis., for their involvement in a straw purchase.
A straw purchase is when a person with a clean record buys a gun for another person (usually one prohibited from owning a gun), but lies on the form saying they are buying the gun for themselves.
Fleming purchased five firearms — a rifle and four pistols — at the direction of Coupe between Sept. 13 and Dec. 14 last year. She falsely attested on the required forms that she was the actual purchaser of the firearms.
She purchased the guns for Coupe, who could not legally buy them himself because he is a felon. He has two felony convictions in Sawyer County, Wis., and is prohibited from possessing firearms.
After Fleming bought the guns, the couple transferred some of the guns to others, including another person identified in the indictment as G.T., a convicted felon from Minneapolis.
“These illegal purchasing schemes that seek to put guns in the hands of dangerous criminals will not be tolerated,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Paulsen.
The case is the result of an investigation conducted by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Minneapolis Police Department and the Sawyer County sheriff’s office.