NORTH VERNON — A North Vernon man is facing federal charges after a grand jury indicted him for allegedly selling more than 500 firearms for more than $406,000, authorities said Monday.
David Joseph Mull, 51, of North Vernon, is charged with one count of unlicensed firearm dealing, according to an indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Indianapolis. The indictment alleges Mull sold firearms totaling $350,000 to a person referred to as Individual A, and 90 firearms in exchange for $56,850 to Individual B.
A press release from the US Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana says Mull was allegedly aware that the firearms were bound for Mexico.
“On May 25, 2016, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives issued Mull with a cease-and-desist letter advising him that it was unlawful to engage in the business of dealing firearms without a license,” the press release says.
“During a firearms sale on March 9, 2023, Individual B asked Mull why he did not have a brick-and-mortar business, to which Mull replied, ‘Like a store? I don’t want nobody to know. I’m probably like you, I don’t want nobody to know about it. Hopefully we can continue to do a bunch of business; I’ll keep on getting stuff,’” the press release says.
U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana, Zachary A. Myers, Daryl S. McCormick, Special Agent in Charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), Columbus (Ohio) Field Division, Justin Campbell, Special Agent in Charge, IRS Criminal Investigation, Chicago Field Office, and Michael Gannon, Assistant Special Agent in Charge of the DEA’s Indianapolis Field Office made the announcement.
“Firearms trafficking investigations are a priority of the Department of Justice, because we know that illegal gun sales fuel violence in our communities and around the world,” Myers said. “We will continue to work with the ATF, IRS, DEA, and all our law enforcement partners to aggressively investigate and prosecute illegal gun trafficking.”
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Internal Revenue Service, and the Drug Enforcement Administration investigated this case. If convicted, Mull faces up to five years in federal prison. The government also seeks to forfeit more than 1,000 firearms seized from Mull as property involved in the charged offense.
This case is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) investigation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations that threaten the United States by using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies against criminal networks.
