A Vinton, Iowa, woman who handed a rifle to her teenage son—knowing he was steeped in drugs—was sentenced today to 46 months in federal prison. Robyn Lynn Merchant, a/k/a Robyn Lynn Winterroth, 53, admitted guilt in a deadly chain of events that ended with a 14-year-old girl dead in her son’s bedroom.
On February 23, 2015, Merchant gave her 16-year-old son a Walther HK MP5 .22 caliber rifle. The next day, police responded to a 911 call from her residence. Inside the boy’s upstairs bedroom, they found the girl bleeding from a gunshot wound. She died shortly after. The room reeked of marijuana and alcohol. Police seized a smoking pipe, drug packaging materials, and seven ounces of weed split into eight bags—all in plain view.
Merchant pleaded guilty on May 23, 2016, to transferring a firearm to a prohibited person. At the time, her son was an unlawful user of marijuana. A urine test confirmed THC in his system the night of the shooting. Evidence also revealed he regularly smoked pot in the home—and that Merchant knew it. Under federal law, drug users cannot legally possess firearms, let alone receive them as gifts from their mothers.
But the gun wasn’t the only crime brewing in the home. Investigators uncovered that Merchant and her son ran a drug operation out of the house, selling marijuana to other high school students. Their customers were friends. Their lab was a child’s bedroom. Their recklessness turned lethal.
U.S. District Court Chief Judge Linda R. Reade handed down the sentence in Cedar Rapids. Merchant must serve 46 months in federal prison, pay a $100 special assessment, and face three years of supervised release. There is no parole in the federal system. She remains in U.S. Marshal custody, awaiting transfer.
“From any perspective, this case is a terrible tragedy,” said U.S. Attorney Kevin W. Techau. “A 14-year-old girl is dead—and a mother is going to prison—because the mother provided her drug-using son with a gun. This case demonstrates why guns and drugs are a deadly combination.” The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Lisa C. Williams and probed by Vinton PD, Iowa DPS, DHS, ICE-HSI, and ATF. Case file: 16-CR-0017. Court records: ecf.iand.uscourts.gov.
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Key Facts
- State: Iowa
- Agency: DOJ USAO
- Category: Weapons
- Source: Official Source ↗
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