Trial begins for former gun shop owners

Leonard Elliott, Thomas Elliott are charged with selling firearms to known convicted felon, falsifying records

By Brad Hicks / Staff Writer

The trial of two Corbin men facing federal firearms charges began Monday in United States District Court in London.

Leonard Charles Elliott and Thomas Charles Elliott, formerly the proprietors of the Bacon Creek Gun Shop in Corbin, are charged with selling firearms to someone they knew to be a convicted felon. They are also charged with falsifying records required to be kept by licensed firearms dealers.

ATF Special Agent Tom Chittum was the only witness to testify Monday. Chittum said the investigation of the Elliotts got underway after he received information from a confidential informant that the Elliotts were selling firearms from their shop through straw purchases.

“A straw purchased is designed to conceal the identity of the actual purchaser,” Chittum said.

Chittum further explained that typically in straw purchases a person prohibited under law from purchasing an item gets someone else to complete the paperwork necessary for them to purchase the item.

The investigation of the Elliotts by Chittum began while he was investigating a man by the name of Letcher Gray, who later became the aforementioned confidential informant.

Assistant United States Attorney Samuel Dotson said Gray had the Kentucky State Police respond to a domestic disturbance between Gray and his wife in 2003. At that time, several guns were seized from Gray and Chittum was called in to investigate.

Chittum said he later purchased marijuana and a firearm from Gray while undercover as part of that investigation. Chittum said a trace of one of the firearms purchased from Gray as part of his investigation came back to the Bacon Creek Gun Shop.

Forms seized from the Bacon Creek Gun Shop during the search warrant executed on the business showed Letcher’s wife completed the paperwork for the firearm purchase in 1998, Chittum said. He also said that the Elliotts were familiar with Gray and Thomas Elliott had even testified against Gray during a trial in the early 1970s in which he was convicted of a felony. Under Kentucky law, it is illegal for a convicted felon to possess or purchase a firearm.

Chittum said Gray offered to serve as an informant in the investigation against the Elliotts, which began in the spring of 2005. On three instances, May 3, 2005, May 10, 2005 and Nov. 16, 2005, Gray went to the Bacon Creek Gun Shop wearing a video recorder, and these recordings were shown in court Monday.

On the May 3, 2005 video, Gray was seen entering the store and speaking with Leonard Elliott. Gray asked if there were any guns for sale that were “off the books.”

Leonard Elliott’s defense attorney, David Hoskins, pointed out to the court that Leonard Elliott immediately responded ‘no’ to Gray’s question. The prosecution entered 50 rounds of 9 mm ammunition into evidence that Chittum said Gray was able to purchase on that date.

The May 10, 2005 video showed Gray again entering the store, this time with Det. Shelby Sloan, who was undercover from the Kentucky State Police. Chittum said Sloan filled out the paperwork for the firearm purchase under the alias of Bradley J. Coleman, but the receipt, change for transaction and firearm itself were given to Gray.

A third video was shown of an incident on Nov. 16, 2005 in which Gray was instructed by investigators to purchase two firearms from the Bacon Creek Gun Shop. Again, he entered the store with Sloan, and Chittum said in his testimony that two firearms were sold to Gray while paperwork was completed by Sloan.

Chittum said firearm laws require that the purchaser of the firearm fill out the forms themselves.

Gray, according to court testimony, also pleaded guilty to a reckless driving charge in 2006. Chittum said the firearm and marijuana that Gray sold to him illegally, as well as his plea of reckless driving stemming from a driving under the influence incident were not prosecuted because of an agreement with the government and ATF. The agreement was reached due to his assistance in the case against the Elliotts and other investigations.

Both Hoskins and William Crabtree, attorney for Thomas Elliott, stated that Gray’s license was not suspended or revoked after his plea — yet in the videos he is not seen driving — so in effect, he could have participated in the investigation without a license.

Crabtree also stated that Gray was allowed by investigators to carry the firearms after these purchases, which he pointed out is an offense.

There are also exceptions on the firearms forms that allow an illiterate purchaser to have someone to complete the information on their behalf, except for the signature.

“Leonard Elliott knew that Letcher Gray had been in trouble and had some scrapes, but did not know he was convicted of a felony,” Hoskins said. “What Leonard knew about Letcher Gray is that he could not read and write.”

Crabtree also said that Gray went into the gun shop after the May videos, against instruction of the government.

The trial is set to continue today in U.S. District Court in London.