ALBANY – In 2018, three respected members of the U.S. Air Force National Guard based in Schenectady County tried to smuggle gun parts into the country from New Zealand.
Their plans were thwarted, in part, because one of the men accidently put two gun silencers into the wrong luggage bag while traveling back to the U.S.
Now all three of the airmen, who were assigned to the 109th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron at Stratton Air National Guard Base in Glenville, have been convicted of federal crimes in U.S. District Court. All escaped prison time.
On Wednesday, Senior U.S. District Judge Lawrence Kahn sentenced the last of the defendants -- Tech. Sgt. Timothy R. Schmitt, 28, of Galway -- to two years of probation and a $5,000 fine.
On Nov. 7, the judge sentenced tTech. Sgt. Joseph R. Paludi, 34, of Schenectady, to two years of probation and a $4,000 fine. On Oct. 31, Kahn sentenced Master Sgt. Kevin D. Ronca, 41, of Amsterdam, to three years of probation, with three months of home detention and a $5,000 fine.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Douglas Collyer, who prosecuted the case, stated in court papers that it would be naïve to think that foreign intelligence agents do not operate in New Zealand. By smuggling the weapon parts, he wrote, the National Guardsmen put themselves in positions to be blackmailed and to jeopardize national security.
The sequence of events behind the ill-fated smuggling, laid out by Collyer in sentencing memos his office submitted to the judge, went as follows:
In January 2018, Ronca, a 22-year Veteran with unique skills, asked Paludi, who like Ronca was described as decorated, to smuggle two gun silencers onto a Feb. 24, 2018 military flight leaving Christchurch in New Zealand. The destination was Stratton Air National Guard Base, but first Paludi had stops in American Samoa, Hawaii and Kentucky.
Ronca, who was flying commercially, feared his belongings would be searched by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents. Their plan was for Paludi to return the silencers to Ronca when the men met up again in the U.S. But during the flight from Hawaii to Kentucky, Paludi accidentally put the silencers into a bag belonging to another airman who, after seeing the gun parts, reported the discovery and handed them over to his commanding officer. Paludi and Ronca both text-messaged the person to retrieve the silencers, but were unsuccessful.
Schmitt, a 10-year Veteran whose record had been exemplary, smuggled a .300 caliber threaded blackout barrel and a silencer onto an aircraft in Christchurch and brought them to his home. When Schmitt learned that Ronca and Paludi were under investigation, he buried the silencer in woods behind his backyard.
About a year later, in February 2019, Schmitt admitted he bought the smuggled parts from a gun store in New Zealand and led agents to the spot where he buried the silencer.
Both men pleaded guilty to conspiring to import firearms. Schmitt pleaded guilty to possessing an unregistered firearm.
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