Cardston gun store owners charged with selling illegally
Two owners of a Cardston store face charges, and more than a million dollars of inventory has been seized, after allegations of firearms sold to unlicensed customers.
ALERT Lethbridge’s organized crime and gang team and the RCMP National Weapons Enforcement Support Team conducted a five-month investigation into K&D Implements in Cardston. They executed a search warrant May 29 with the assistance of Cardston RCMP and Lethbridge police.
Dean Sommerfeldt, 58, and Todd Sommerfeldt, 31, were arrested and jointly charged with trafficking a firearm, possession of weapons for the purpose of trafficking, careless storage of a restricted weapon, and transfer of a weapon and/or ammunition without authority.
The entire store’s firearms inventory of 1,000 guns and one million rounds of ammunition was also seized. The estimated value of the seized items is between $1.2 and $1.4 million.
Both men were released from custody on a number of court imposed conditions, including not to possess any firearms. Their next scheduled court appearance is June 19 in Cardston.
ALERT alleges that K&D Implements was selling firearms and ammunition illegally. The store owners are accused of failing to ensure that firearms purchasers provided valid Possession Acquisition Licenses, hence the firearms trafficking charge.
“This gun store needlessly put public safety at risk by allowing conceivably anybody to acquire guns,” said ALERT Lethbridge S-Sgt. Jason Walper. “We would be naïve to think that organized crime and the criminal element did not take advantage of this opportunity.”
Walper isn’t sure how long the business was allegedly selling illegally, nor what the motive may have been. Police are not aware of any crimes committed using the illegally sold firearms, he said, but it’s “certainly, without a doubt, a grave possibility.”
“Again, their actions put the public and public safety at risk and it’s possible somebody could have been harmed, seriously wounded or killed because of a firearm that hits the streets. It’s a big concern to us.”