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BIRMINGHAM – A federal judge today sentenced a former Fairfield Police Department maintenance worker to six years and six months in prison for being a felon in possession of firearms, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Robert O. Posey and Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Assistant Special Agent in Charge David Hyche.

U.S. District Judge Madeline Hughes Haikala sentenced ROY ELLIS HUNTER, 70, on one count of being a convicted felon who possessed four handguns on June 4, 2015. Hunter pleaded guilty to the charge in October. He must report to prison May 15.

“Roy Hunter was stealing guns from a police department and then selling them to persons who could not legally buy a firearm,” Posey said. “ATF and the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency stopped that illegal flow of guns back onto the streets. Our community is safer because of their work and this prosecution.”

“These guns had already been taken off the street by law enforcement once,” Hyche said. “I am happy that we were able to stop this and prevent more of them from being sold to criminals.”

According to Hunter’s plea, he was convicted on federal racketeering and cocaine distribution charges in 1984 and on federal counterfeiting charges in 1983.

On June 4, 2015, Hunter sold four handguns, a Cobra .380-caliber pistol, an FIE .32-caliber revolver, an Iberia .40-caliber pistol and a Norinco 9 mm pistol, for $800 to an informant working undercover with ATF agents. The transaction took place at Hunter’s Fairfield home and was monitored and recorded. In the course of that sale, Hunter and the informant planned a future purchase, according to Hunter’s plea.

On July 8, in another monitored transaction at Hunter’s residence, the informant paid Hunter $4,000 to buy 15 firearms, which he selected from 30 that Hunter retrieved from his basement, according to his plea. One of the guns was in a clear plastic bag that was marked “Evidence.” Agents arrested Hunter the next day and recovered 31 firearms, ammunition, narcotics and a decorative sword “that were all presumed to be stolen from the Fairfield Police Department,” according to Hunter’s plea.

 ATF, with assistance from ALEA, investigated the case, which Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael A. Royster prosecuted.