Louisiana couple pleads guilty to making, selling full-auto converted SKS

A Western Louisiana couple pleaded guilty in federal court Tuesday to selling a confidential informant an SKS rifle they had illegally converted with a full-auto trigger group.

Michael Deen Reeves, 58, and Crissy Lawson Reeves, 37, of Castor, plead guilty at the U.S. Courthouse in Shreveport this week to one count of manufacturing an unregistered firearm and one count of transferring an unregistered firearm, respectively.

According to court documents, on Oct. 28, 2015, a confidential informant advised law enforcement that he met with the couple who had agreed to sell him an SKS capable of fully-automatic fire. The problem was the gun was semi-auto at the time and was then in a pawn shop in nearby Natchitoches. The CI, wired for sound and video, met Crissy Reeves at the pawn shop and gave her $150 to get the gun, a Chinese-made Norinco, out of hock.

The informant then met the couple at their home in Castor on Oct. 30 and bought the gun for $840 after Michael Reeves installed an unregistered full-auto trigger group in the rifle and explained how it worked, all of which was duly recorded by the CI.

After the transfer occurred, federal agents verified that the SKS was not a transferable machine gun under the National Firearms Act and that the couple did not have the necessary federal licenses to manufacture or sell Title II items.

Sentencing is set for Jan. 20 before a federal judge in Shreveport. Each of the defendants stand to receive up to 10 years in prison, three years of supervised release, forfeiture of the SKS and a $10,000 fine.