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SAN JOSE – A 45-year-old San Jose man and convicted felon has pleaded guilty to illegally possessing a short-barreled rifle and ammunition, according to federal prosecutors.
Mark Dehart entered into a plea agreement Monday, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a statement. In it, he admitted that law enforcement officers conducted a parole compliance check at his home on June 29, 2021, and found a rifle with a barrel less than nine inches long that was privately made, unregistered and illegal to possess.
Prosecutors said officers also located ammunition, which Dehart could not possess as a convicted felon.
In addition, officers found a .22-caliber pistol and an AR-15-style 5.56-caliber rifle, both of which were privately made and lacked serial numbers, as well as four firearm silencers, which also lacked serial numbers, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
Prosecutors said Dehart also admitted in the plea agreement to possessing a pair of devices that can convert Glock semi-automatic pistols into mini-machine guns and to possessing at least one ounce of methamphetamine packaged into multiple individual baggies.
Dehart faces up to 10 years in prison for possessing an unregistered short-barreled firearm and up to 10 years in prison for possessing ammunition as a convicted felon. A sentencing hearing has been set for Feb. 27.
The case followed a U.S. Department of Justice crackdown on illegal firearms trafficking.
Originally published at Jason Green