A Waterville man was convicted Monday of illegally receiving and shipping firearms, including guns he allegedly sent to Romania.
Iulian Petre, also known as Julian Petre, 50, was found not guilty of smuggling and money laundering charges, according to a press release from acting U.S. Attorney Richard W. Murphy. The federal charges say he illegally exported firearms to people in Romania.
According to various websites listing gunshops, Petre had a Title 1 dealer or gunsmith license at one point, and the address listed for the business is 263 North Pond Road, Winslow.
“There’s nothing out there now,” Petre said in an interview a month ago. He said he was not charged until about 14 months after investigators came in and took all of his computers and his phone.
Petre was arrested April 12, 2017.
Petre’s attorney, Jeremy Pratt, said the jury deliberated for a total of 16 hours on Friday and Monday, before returning their verdict about 6:15 p.m. Monday.
“We appreciate and respect the service of the jury but we are disappointed with the outcome,” Pratt said Tuesday. “Now we are focusing on the sentencing.”
Petre testified at the trial and was the only witness for the defense. He did not return a phone message left Tuesday seeking comment on the verdict.
The indictment charged that in the period of August 2012 to August 2013, Petre illegally shipped, transported or received 10 firearms from eight states and illegally exported three firearms. Other documents filed in the case say Petre shipped 16 firearms to Romania from September to November 2007 via the U.S. Postal Service and filed forms about that in the Waterville post office.
As a result of the convictions, Petre faces up to 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release, according to the press release. He will be sentenced after the completion of a pre-sentence investigation.
Petre sent some firearms to Romania but “knowingly failed to obtain” authorization from the U.S. Department of State, the release said.
Petre said recently that he was born in Romania and has dual citizenship, and has been living in the United States for the past 27 years.
Petre also said he previously held a license to export firearms.
The verdict followed a multi-day trial in U.S. District Court in Bangor.
Petre was found guilty of receiving seven weapons from six different states, all between Oct. 22, 2012, and Aug. 13, 2013.
He was cleared of charges he received three other weapons from Pennsylvania, Texas and Kansas within that same time period.
Petre was convicted of three counts of illegal exporting a firearm: a Browning rifle on Jan. 25, 2013; a Remington rifle on May 17, 2013; and a Browning rifle on Aug. 17, 2013.
He also was cleared of three counts of promoting money laundering by transferring money from Romania to Maine with the intent to smuggle items from the United States — each of which carried the highest maximum penalty of 20 years’ imprisonment — and cleared of one count of smuggling.
Betty Adams — 621-5631
Twitter: @betadams
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