ATF & Pittsylvania County Sheriff’s Office arrest accused illegal weapons dealer

By Scott Leamon
WSLS10 Reporter
Published: April 29, 2008

  Agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, & Firearms (ATF) as well as deputies from the Pittsylvania County sheriff’s office arrested Jack Scott, 64, of Rockford School Road near Gretna, on charges of illegally selling firearms and making and selling machine guns.

  The investigation into Scott started last August, according to federal court records.

  Investigators are part of the VIPER task force, a special violent crimes investigations unit made up of local and federal authorities.

  Federal court records state Jack Scott is accused of selling three firearms he converted from semi-automatic to fully automatic machine guns.

  The records accuse Scott of selling those firearms to a “confidential informant” associated with the ATF.

  “We do think the type of firearms [Scott is accused of] selling to the community are very dangerous and they’re designed to kill,“ said ATF resident agent-in-charge, Bart McEntire.

  Scott surrendered to police at his home Tuesday morning without incident.

  A police search yielded 31 firearms and parts, McEntire said.

  Investigators believe McEntire altered weapons inside a shop near his home.

  McEntire said agents did not recover any fully automatic weapons.

  McEntire said agents uncovered possible evidence Scott sold at least one dozen machine guns to persons unknown.

  Pittsylvania County sheriff Michael Taylor said Scott’s arrest will be “news” to this small community.

  Taylor said Scott did not have the proper licenses to sell any weapons.

  Federal court records also accuse Scott of selling weapons other than fully automatic machine guns.

  Scott was lodged inside Roanoke City Jail awaiting his next federal court hearing as of late Tuesday evening.