ANCHORAGE, Alaska – An Eagle River man was sentenced Tuesday to two and a half years in prison and is required to serve three years on supervised release and 120 hours of community service for legally purchasing firearms in Alaska and trafficking them to Sacramento, California, where they ended up in the hands of gang members and felons.
According to court documents, between February 2021 and April 2022, Cornelius Smith, 34, purchased 28 firearms from private parties and federally licensed firearms dealers (FFLs) in Alaska.
For any purchase from an FFL, federal law requires the purchaser fill out a Form 4473 generated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). This form explains what it means to be the “actual transferee/buyer” of a firearm.
In June 2021 alone, Smith purchased 17 firearms from FFLs in Alaska. Each time, Smith affirmed he was the actual transferee/buyer, meaning he was not purchasing the firearms on someone else’s behalf.
Smith then travelled to Sacramento, declaring that he was carrying “shooting equipment.” Ten days later, one of the firearms Smith purchased in June was recovered near Sacramento. In total, 14 of the 28 firearms Smith purchased have been recovered in California, nearly all during criminal investigations in the Sacramento area, including investigations of attempted homicides, robberies and gang-affiliated shootings. Many of the recovered firearms were modified with large capacity magazines and/or automatic firing capabilities. The remaining 14 have yet to be located.
During the conduct period, Smith received around $9,000 total in payments from various Sacramento-based family members and associates. The payments often corresponded to the price Smith paid for the firearms.
In April 2022, law enforcement searched Smith’s home in Alaska and located dozens of empty gun boxes with serial numbers correlating to the firearms Smith purchased in 2021, but none of those firearms were located in Smith’s home.
Smith was indicted on Feb. 23, 2024, and convicted on Nov. 1, 2024, on 11 of 12 counts of firearms trafficking following a five-day trial by jury in Anchorage.
“Mr. Smith deliberately purchased firearms in Alaska for the sole purpose of illegally trafficking them to prohibited individuals in California, and those firearms directly contributed to gun and gang violence in and around the Sacramento area,” said U.S. Attorney Michael J. Heyman for the District of Alaska. “Let this conviction and sentence highlight that the straw purchase of firearms in Alaska – especially for the purpose of supplying the firearms to violent criminals – will be prosecuted. I want to thank the ATF and our law enforcement partners in California for their work on investigating this complex case.”
“This investigation exemplifies ATF’s commitment to aggressively pursue and disrupt the flow of firearms to criminals. To date, 14 of the 28 firearms trafficked by Mr. Smith have been recovered in violent crimes ranging from attempted murder, armed robbery, and gang-related retaliatory shootings, with many in the possession of federally prohibited persons at the time of recovery. Sadly, Mr. Smith’s reckless actions may be felt for years to come as many of the firearms he trafficked have yet to be recovered,” said ATF Seattle Special Agent in Charge Jonathan Blais. “His callous disregard for laws and lack of moral conduct earned him this sentence. This should send a message that if you traffic in firearms, you will be investigated, caught, and charged.”
The ATF Anchorage Field Office, with assistance from the California Highway Patrol, Sacramento Sheriff’s Office, Sacramento Police Department, San Francisco Police Department, Folsom Police Department, Pittsburg Police Department, Daly City Police Department, Vacaville Police Department and Citrus Heights Police Department, investigated the case.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Ainsley McNerney and Jennifer Ivers prosecuted the case.
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