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Shop owner sentenced for illegal gun sales

An Asheville man was sentenced last week to four years in prison for dealing in firearms without a license, U.S. Attorney Jill Westmoreland Rose.
U.S. District Judge Martin Reidinger also ordered Conley Dale Patterson, 72, to serve three years under court supervision upon completion of his prison term and to pay $2,300 as restitution.
Patterson owns the Asheville Combat Zone at 1472 Patton Ave., which sells a variety of military surplus equipment and other items. According to court records, from July 2009 to October 2014 Patterson engaged in the business of dealing in firearms from his store without possessing a Federal Firearms License. Court records indicate that Patterson had received previous warnings by law enforcement that he was prohibited from dealing in firearms without being a licensed dealer. However, Patterson continued to engage in a pattern of selling multiple firearms without a federal firearms license, including selling firearms to convicted felons, prosecutors said. Over the course of the investigation, law enforcement recovered from Patterson’s store at least 10 firearms, including seven rifles, two shotguns and a pistol.
Patterson pleaded guilty to one count of dealing in firearms without a license in August 2016. He will be ordered to report to the Federal Bureau of Prisons to begin serving his sentence upon designation of a federal facility. All federal sentences are served without the possibility of parole.