Melvyn Gear will spend 15 months behind bars for the illegal possession of a firearm in Hawai‘i.
The 59-year-old dual citizen of Great Britain and Australia was convicted of being an alien illegally in possession of a firearm following a jury trial in May of this year. He was sentenced Wednesday in Honolulu by Senior United States District Judge Susan Oki Mollway.
Federal law does not allow for a foreign national living in the U.S. pursuant to a nonimmigrant visa from possessing any firearms, according to a press release from the United States Attorney, District of Hawai‘i.
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Gear was found in July 2017 to be in possession of a rifle shipped to the U.S., which he’d owned while living in Australia. He was dishonest about the situation when questioned by federal authorities, the release continued.
“We will continue our efforts to prosecute anyone in Hawai‘i possessing a firearm in violation of federal law,” said US Attorney Kenji M. Price. “At the sentencing hearing yesterday, Senior US District Judge Mollway rejected a defense request for a probationary sentence and instead sentenced Gear to 15 months of imprisonment and noted that the conviction will likely result in deportation after Gear serves the term of imprisonment.”
The Department of Homeland Security, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the Hawai‘i County Police Department investigated the case. It was prosecuted by Assistant US Attorney Marshall H. Silverberg and Special Assistant US Attorney Kauanoe Jackson.
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