James Piccirilli, Possession of Unregistered Firearm, Maryland 2020

A former Maryland police officer, James Piccirilli, 39, of Mt. Airy, Maryland, was arrested on October 13, 2020, in New Salisbury, Indiana, after fleeing to avoid serving a 30-month prison sentence for possession of an unregistered fully automatic firearm.

Piccirilli was sentenced on January 13, 2020, by U.S. Circuit Judge Stephanie Thacker, sitting by designation in Baltimore, to 30 months in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release.

According to his guilty plea, on October 5, 2018, Piccirilli took an MKE 5.56mm caliber firearm, which had been altered to convert it into a fully automatic short-barreled rifle, bringing the firearm under the regulation of the National Firearms Act (NFA), to the home of another individual, who was a licensed gun dealer in Maryland.

Piccirilli admitted that the firearm belonged to him, but it was not registered to him, in violation of the NFA. He tried to launder the unregistered firearm by attempting to have the gun dealer register the illegal firearm and/or sell it, so that the sale of the gun would appear to be legal.

Piccirilli fled after sentencing and did not meet his prison reporting date. He was located and arrested by law enforcement including federal agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) Baltimore and Louisville Field Divisions, U.S. Deputy Marshals from Indiana, and officers from the Southeast Indiana Regional SWAT Team.

On October 13, 2020, Piccirilli was arrested with his girlfriend, Kellie Warfield, 29, of Mt. Airy, on criminal complaints charging Piccirilli with failing to surrender for service of sentence and Warfield with aiding and abetting. They both had initial appearances in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana on October 14, 2020, and were ordered to be detained and transported to Maryland.

The investigation was conducted by the ATF Baltimore Special Agents, assisted by U.S. Deputy Marshals from Baltimore. The National Firearms Act regulates certain firearms, known as “NFA firearms,” such as short-barreled rifles; fully automatic firearms; firearms that can be readily made fully automatic; and parts that can make a firearm fully automatic.