Army lieutenant colonel charged with smuggling firearm parts from Russia, other countries
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A U.S. Army lieutenant colonel was arrested Thursday on charges that he illegally imported firearm parts from foreign countries, including Russia, and traded weapons without a license, federal prosecutors said.
Frank Ross Talbert, 40, has been charged with 21 charges, including importing defense articles without a license, smuggling firearms parts into the US, firearms trafficking, possessing unregistered machine guns, transporting a machine gun without a license and dealing in firearms without a permit, the American attorney’s office in Nashville reported in a press release.
Talbert pleaded not guilty during a hearing in federal court in Nashville on Thursday, the documents showed. He was released under certain conditions, including that he place himself under the supervision of a court official, surrender his passport and limit his travel to Tennessee and Fort Campbell, Kentucky, records showed.
Talbert, a lieutenant colonel with the Army Explosives Ordinance Disposal at Fort Campbell, was arrested after federal law enforcement officers executed multiple search warrants during their investigation, prosecutors said.
According to the indictment, Talbert illegally imported parts for AK-style firearms without proper licensing and authorization, in violation of the Arms Export Control Act. The parts included pistol grips, handguards, buttstocks, sights, gas tubes and muzzle devices, the indictment said.
Talbert was also charged with illegally importing 55 inert rifle shells, illegally possessing AK-47 machine guns and illegally selling a partially destroyed AK-47 kit, which prosecutors said was transported from Tennessee to Kentucky.
The imported parts came from Russia, Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic, the indictment said. If convicted, Talbert faces a maximum prison sentence of 20 years.
Fort Campbell is a sprawling base that straddles the Kentucky-Tennessee line about 60 miles (97 kilometers) northwest of Nashville.