Crime & Safety

State Drops Case Against Ex-Attorney

Clarksburg man was charged with selling machine guns from his home.

The case against a Clarksburg man charged with selling machine guns from his home was dismissed Monday in Montgomery County District Court.

“Federal authorities will handle the investigation and prosecution of this defendant,” said Stephen H. Chaikin, the assistant state’s attorney involved with the prosecution.

Richard K. Brennan, 39, of the 23000 block of Burdette Forest Road, was charged with selling firearms without a state license, owning machine guns that weren’t registered with Maryland State Police, and not keeping a log of his firearms transactions as required by law, according to records filed in Montgomery District Court.

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Marcia Murphy, a spokeswoman with the U.S. States Attorney Office's Maryland Division, said Monday that no federal charges had been filed against Brennan.

"We won't conform or deny any investigation," Murphy told Patch.

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Brennan, a former attorney, had been under investigation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Maryland State Police and Montgomery County Police since July 2010, District Court records state.

Prosecutors allege that Brennan had more than 50 firearms at his home in Clarksburg, received mail for PD Demo and Sales at his home and shipped firearms from his home, though he did not have a license in Maryland to sell firearms, court records state. 

Police allege that the address provided on Brennan’s Federal Firearms License for his business, PD Demo and Sales, was in Charles Town, W.Va., court records state, but when investigators visited the address, they reportedly discovered that the business was not there.


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