Military theft recipient gets probation
A former Las Vegas gun store owner was sentenced to three years of probation Thursday for buying stolen military items worth thousands of dollars.
Jonathan Call, who once owned Citadel Gun & Safe near Dean Martin Drive and Flamingo Road, pleaded guilty in October to one felony count of receipt of stolen government property.
Another defendant in the federal case, former Nevada Army National Guardsman Marco Antonio Reyes, pleaded guilty in March 2012 to one count of theft of government property.
Reyes, a decorated Afghanistan War veteran, is to be sentenced in March. He was discharged from the Guard in October 2011, several weeks after his arrest.
Call cooperated in the investigation, conducted by the Air Force’s special investigations office. Undercover agents infiltrated Call’s business dealings during the investigation.
In court Thursday, Call’s lawyer Richard Schonfeld, told Senior U.S. District Judge Lloyd George that Call accepted responsibility for his actions and has moved to Utah to live with his family. He no longer is in the military supply and weapons business.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Phillip Smith sought five years of probation for Call, but George opted for the lighter term.
In his plea agreement with prosecutors, Reyes acknowledged that he sold Call $30,000 worth of military equipment stolen from the Clark County Armory in North Las Vegas.
Call then put the items up for sale at the gun store.
The items included weapons mounts for machine guns, ballistic vests, Meals Ready to Eat and chemical weapons suits.
Call admitted in the plea agreement that he knew the items he bought had been stolen.
Air Force investigators, with the help of Las Vegas police and the FBI, raided Citadel Gun & Safe in August 2011 following the undercover investigation.
Call admitted during the raid that he bought the stolen items, and he pointed them out to investigators.
Reyes agreed to cooperate with prosecutors in return for a lighter sentence.
Reyes, who held the rank of sergeant, spent a year in Afghanistan with Nevada’s 221st Cavalry Regiment. He accumulated several decorations, including Afghanistan campaign medal with campaign star, combat badge and the Army Commendation Medal.