A Jaffrey man is going down for the counts after pleading guilty to possessing unregistered machine guns and silencers. 38-year-old Luke Czekalski, a parolee, thought he could skirt the law and hide his arsenal, but the authorities had other plans.
According to the DOJ, Czekalski was on parole following a prior felony conviction when New Hampshire state parole officers made an unannounced visit to his residence in Jaffrey. What they found was a trove of illicit firearms, ammunition, and body armor.
Parole officers conducted a search of the defendant’s basement and uncovered several bins containing firearms, ammunition, loaded magazines, body armor, and other miscellaneous items. The Jaffrey Police Department provided additional assistance, leading to the seizure of eight homemade firearms and five homemade silencers, along with assorted firearm ammunition.
Three of the firearms displayed fully automatic firing capabilities during test fires, making them “machineguns” under federal law. The charging statute provides a sentence of no greater than 10 years in prison, 3 years of supervised release, and a fine of $10,000.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles L. Rombeau is prosecuting the case, which was led by the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives and the Jaffrey Police Department, with valuable assistance from the New Hampshire Department of Corrections’ Division of Field Services and New Hampshire Forensic Laboratory.
The defendant, Luke Czekalski, is scheduled to be sentenced on September 23, 2024, by U.S. District Court Chief Judge Landya McCafferty. For now, he awaits his fate, a small price to pay for his blatant disregard of the law and the safety of those around him.
The investigation was a textbook example of interagency cooperation, with multiple law enforcement agencies working together to take down a major player in the illicit firearms trade. As the authorities continue to crack down on such crimes, one thing is clear: you can’t hide from the law forever.
Related Federal Cases
- Jaffrey Man Pleads Guilty to Illicit Gun and Silencer Hoard · New Hampshire
- Raheem Nigge Taylor Gets 36 Months for Illegal Gun Possession · New Hampshire
- Marcos Nieves Pleads Guilty to Illegal Firearm Possession · New Hampshire
- Michael Younge Pleads Guilty in Hooksett Gun Scheme · Massachusetts
- Warren Gates Gets 63 Months for Stolen Gun Trafficking · Illinois
Key Facts
- State: New Hampshire
- Agency: DOJ USAO
- Category: Weapons
- Source: Official Source ↗
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