Westerville man sentenced to 7 years in prison for possessing machine gun after prior felony convictions

Raymond A. Small, 38, of Westerville, was sentenced in U.S. District Court recently to 84 months in prison for possessing a fully-automatic weapon as a previously convicted felon.

According to court documents, from August to December 2022, Small was involved in numerous illegal narcotics and firearms transactions with an undercover agent. The transactions involved one machine gun and seven other guns.

Small regularly recruited others to participate in firearms trafficking, including recruiting two co-defendants in this case.

For example, Small and a friend met up with the undercover agent in August 2022 and brought with them Oxycodone pills and a machine gun that had no serial numbers. In October 2022, Small accompanied a second individual and met again with the undercover agent to sell the agent two pistols.

Small committed these crimes while on probation for prior drug and weapons offenses.

Small pleaded guilty in August 2023 to possessing a machine gun and possessing a firearm as a previously convicted felon.

Kenneth L. Parker, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, and Daryl S. McCormick, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives (ATF), announced the sentence imposed by Chief U.S. District Court Judge Algenon L. Marbley. Assistant United States Attorneys Kevin W. Kelley and S. Courter Shimeall are representing the United States in this case.

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