Man sentenced for possessing stolen machine guns

By Kristina Davis, UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
Monday, June 28, 2010 at 5:27 p.m.

SAN DIEGO — An El Cajon man was sentenced in federal court Monday to 87 months in prison after pleading guilty to possessing stolen machine guns meant to be sold to police officers during a local SWAT convention, the U.S. attorney’s office said.

The guns were stolen Sept. 29 from the van of a licensed firearms dealer that was participating in the San Diego convention to demonstrate weapons. The guns, a Heckler and Koch G36 5.56 mm machine gun and a FNH P090 5.7 mm machine gun, are available for police or military use only.

Mark Allen Smrekar, a 41-year-old felon who is prohibited from possessing firearms, admitted to authorities that he transferred the two guns to a co-conspirator to sell them for a total of $2,000, prosecutors said.

The accomplice, Forest Hopster, then tried to sell the guns to a methamphetamine dealer, but agents from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives intervened and seized the weapons.

Hopster, a felon, was convicted earlier on firearms charges.

Kristina Davis: (619) 542-4591; kristina.davis@uniontrib.com

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