John Day man admits to illegal machine gun possession

A John Day man with ties to the armed occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge has pleaded guilty to illegally possessing a machine gun.

The Register-Guard reports (http://bit.ly/2jmFuL6 ) that 54-year-old Michael Ray Emry on Monday pleaded guilty. Sentencing is scheduled for April 3.

The ATF says the M2 machine gun Emry possessed was capable of firing 550 to 650 rounds per minute.

Emry admitted that he took the gun from a shop where he works in Idaho. Emry says the owner of the shop didn’t know that he had taken the weapon.

Emry described himself as an “embedded reporter” during the refuge takeover one year ago. He was not indicted for his role in the occupation and the weapons charge was not connected to the incident.

He pleaded guilty to unlawful possession of a fully automatic .50 caliber machine gun that was not registered to him, federal prosecutors said.

U.S. Distict Judge Ann Aiken in Eugene accepted the guilty plea and scheduled his sentencing for April 3. Prosecutors said Emry faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, a $10,000 fine and three years of supervised release.

According to court documents and statements made in court, on May 6 of last year, federal agents executed a search warrant on Emry’s trailer in John Day and recovered a Browning M2 machine gun with an obliterated serial number.

They said Emry told agents that the firearm was fully automatic and could fire between 550 and 650 rounds per minute, that he had stolen it from a man in Idaho, and that he had removed the serial number prior to bringing it to Oregon.

The case was investigated by the FBI in collaboration with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Nathan Lichvarcik.