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NORWALK, Conn. A Norwalk man has been sentenced to more than six years in federal prison for making and selling machine guns, according to David B. Fein, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut.
Police found 76 firearms, including five additional machine guns, and thousands of rounds of ammunition when they searched the Granite Drive home of George Uzar, Sr., 49, on May 12, 2011, Fein said. They found an additional machine gun when they searched the home of Uzar's nephew.
Uzar pleaded guilty in November to one count of possession and transfer of a machine gun. He was sentenced Monday by Senior United States District Judge Ellen Bree Burns in New Haven to 74 months of imprisonment, followed by three years of supervised release.
A person working with police purchased 13 AK-47 and Sten-type machine guns from Uzar's nephew between October 2010 and April 2011 as part of a joint law enforcement investigation into the Stamford Chapter of the Latin Kings and the trafficking of firearms and narcotics in southwestern Connecticut, Fein said. None of the firearms had serial numbers, a manufacturer's name or an importer's name, he said.
Fein said that the investigation, which included court-authorized electronic surveillance, revealed that the machine guns were manufactured by Uzar and sold by his nephew, who then paid his uncle a portion of the sales.
The nephew, Patrick Uzar, pleaded guilty on Jan. 26 to one count of possession with intent to distribute and distribution of cocaine, and one count of possession and transfer of a machine gun. He was sentenced June 5 to 135 months of imprisonment, followed by three years of supervised release.
Seventeen individuals were charged with various federal offenses as a result of this investigation. All pleaded guilty, and George Uzar is the last defendant to be sentenced.
This matter was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the United States Marshals Service, the Stamford Police Department, the Bridgeport Police Department, the Norwalk Police Department and the Connecticut Department of Correction. The investigation was funded in significant part by the United States Attorney's Office Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) and supported by the Office's Project Safe Neighborhoods and Anti-Gang programs.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Anthony E. Kaplan and Marc H. Silverman.
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