A Butler man who sold firearms from Sportsman’s Supply Company in Summit Township was sentenced to serve 45 days in prison after pleading guilty to federal firearms law violations.

Grant Williams, 61, was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh to serve 45 days in prison followed by a year of supervised release and fined $400,000 after pleading guilty to five charges filed by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in January.

Williams pleaded guilty to five counts of failure to make entry in a record by a federal firearms dealer. Federal prosecutors said he failed to properly document the acquisition and sale of firearms between the dates of March 10, 2021, and March 3, 2022; June 28, 2020, and Jan. 13, 2022; March 6, 2020, and April 26, 2022; July 14, 2021, and Oct. 21, 2021; and June 23, 2020, and Jan. 31, 2022, said Troy Rivetti, acting United States Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania, on Friday.

A Butler man who sold firearms from Sportsman’s Supply Company in Summit Township was sentenced to serve 45 days in prison after pleading guilty to federal firearms law violations.

Grant Williams, 61, was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh to serve 45 days in prison followed by a year of supervised release and fined $400,000 after pleading guilty to five charges filed by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in January.

Williams pleaded guilty to five counts of failure to make entry in a record by a federal firearms dealer. Federal prosecutors said he failed to properly document the acquisition and sale of firearms between the dates of March 10, 2021, and March 3, 2022; June 28, 2020, and Jan. 13, 2022; March 6, 2020, and April 26, 2022; July 14, 2021, and Oct. 21, 2021; and June 23, 2020, and Jan. 31, 2022, said Troy Rivetti, acting United States Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania, on Friday.

Williams held a federal firearm license and sold firearms from Sportsman’s Supply in Summit Township. He was required to maintain acquisition and disposition books related to the firearms he obtained and sold.

When selling a firearm, Williams was required by federal law to record the firearm’s description and the transferee’s name, place of residence and date of birth. Federal firearm licensees are required to share such records with the ATF to determine the disposition of firearms in the course of a criminal investigation, according to Rivetti.

In April 2022, the ATF attempted a trace of a firearm sold by Williams that had been used in a crime. Because Williams’ acquisition and disposition books did not record the disposition of that firearm, the trace was unresolved, according to Rivetti.

Due to a subsequent unresolved firearm trace, the ATF conducted an audit of Williams’ records between May and August 2022. The audit revealed that 2,636 firearm acquisitions were neither in William’s possession nor recorded in his disposition records, according to Rivetti.

The ATF’s investigation revealed that many of Williams’ firearm sales used GunBroker.com, an online auction site that operates similar to eBay. Following the close of an auction, the firearm would be mailed from Williams’ possession to a different federal firearm licensee to be transferred to the buyer. However, Williams still was required to record the disposition of those firearms, according to Rivetti.

The sentence was imposed by Chief U.S. District Judge Mark R. Hornak.

A representative of Sportsman’s Supply declined to comment.