Renton Woman Pleads Guilty To Gun Purchase Scheme

SEATTLE, WA—A 41-year-old Renton woman pleaded guilty Monday in U.S. District Court in Seattle to three federal felonies related to a scheme to purchase firearms and illegally provide them to other people, U.S. Attorney Brian T. Moran said.

Shannon McCall pleaded guilty to conspiracy to violate the Gun Control Act, making a false statement to a government agent, and making a false statement in connection with the acquisition of a firearm, according to Moran.

According to records filed in the case, between August 2017 and January 2019, McCall admitted that she illegally purchased six firearms from Ben’s Loan Inc., a federally licensed firearm dealer in Renton.

On purchase paperwork, the U.S. Attorney's Office said that McCall lied and that she was the ultimate purchaser of the firearms, when in fact she purchased the firearms for others. Both McCall and her son were involved in the scheme.

In court filings in his case, prosecutors noted that her son modified some of the firearms to be automatic weapons and provided firearms to members of violent street gangs, one of whom had just been released from prison.

Prosecutors said McCall told investigators that she did not know how the firearms were used after she purchased them for her son. McCall purchased a firearm for another person, in her name, in exchange for a $200.00 payment.

When McCall was questioned by agents about her firearms purchases, she initially lied and said the guns were being stored by “Uncle James”–a person she now admits does not exist.

Conspiracy to violate the Gun Control Act and making a false statement to a government agent are each punishable by up to five years in prison, officials said. Making a false statement in connection with the acquisition of a firearm is punishable by up to ten years in prison.

McCall's sentencing before U.S. District Judge James L. Robart is scheduled for Dec. 7, 2020.