Former KC fire captain sentenced for illegal gun sales

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A former fire department captain in Kansas City, Missouri, has been sentenced to six years in federal prison for illegally selling guns, including to convicted felons.

James Samuels, 55, was sentenced Monday. He will be required to serve three years of supervised released once he gets out of prison.

Samuels pleaded guilty to several gun charges in August, admitting he bought 77 guns from November 2013 to August 2018, and transferred 47 of the guns to third parties. He made a profit of $40 to $50 per firearm, prosecutors said.

Authorities said 10 to 20 of the guns were sold to people forbidden to possess firearms.

Samuels also was ordered to pay a fine of more than $11,000 — the amount of cash seized at the time of his arrest.

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This story was first published on Jan 25. It was updated on Jan. 27 to correct in the headline that Samuels was sentenced for illegal gun sales, not the sale of illegal drugs.