Hudson Valley Man Sentenced To Prison For Illegally Having Rifle

KERHONKSON, NY — An Ulster County man will be spending time in prison for illegally having a rifle because he is already a felon.

Carla B. Freedman, the United States Attorney for the Northern District of New York, said Thursday that Bram Fox, 44, of Kerhonkson, was sentenced to 70 months — or almost six years — in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for unlawfully possessing a rifle as a previously convicted felon.

Prosecutors said that Fox admitted that, on Jan. 31, he possessed about 30 firearms and thousands of rounds of ammunition in his house, including an Aero Precision M5 rifle.

He has felony convictions in New York and Connecticut, including a 2009 conviction for an armed bank robbery in Connecticut, that prevented him from lawfully possessing the rifle.

Fox also admitted that, from about October 2020 until January 2023, he purchased firearms parts from several dozen online retailers, had them shipped to his home in Kerhonkson and then used the parts to manufacture non-serialized handguns and rifles, which are sometimes called “ghost guns” due to the fact that this type of firearm does not contain a serial number imprinted by a manufacturer.

Of the firearms that Fox had on Jan. 31, most were non-serialized.

ATF agents, who searched Fox’s house on Jan. 31, also found him to be in possession of various tools that could be used to manufacture and modify firearms, as well as firearms parts and accessories such as frames, grips, scopes, sights and slides.