A gavel rests on a desk in this undated photo.
A former Camp Pendleton Marine who sold nearly two dozen unserialized "ghost guns" to undercover officers was sentenced Monday to just over three years in federal prison.
Christian Ferrari, 23, pleaded guilty to selling 22 rifles to officers with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives on four separate occasions last year.
Federal authorities first learned of the gun sales in January of 2023, when Riverside County sheriff's officials notified ATF that Ferrari was involved in manufacturing and selling guns and would be expecting a call from someone interested in buying firearms, according to a prosecutor's sentencing memorandum.
Between March and May of last year, prosecutors say Ferrari met with undercover agents in San Diego and El Cajon and sold the rifles for a total of nearly $24,000. During two of the transactions, officers mentioned that the guns they bought would be bound for Mexico.
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At his sentencing hearing in federal court, Ferrari told U.S. District Judge Cynthia Bashant that his involvement in the gun sales was "really stupid."
He said, "I understand what I did is really wrong and the possibility of the harm that could have been created just from my actions."
Defense attorney Stephen Piotrkowski, who asked for a two-year sentence, said his client is remorseful and has support from his family and his fellow Marines.
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"It is also important to note that those that know him best and served alongside him in service to our nation believe that this was a grave mistake, that Christian takes responsibility for this behavior, and that nothing of the kind will occur in the future," Piotrkowski wrote in a sentencing memorandum.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Shital Thakkar argued that in light of the nature of the crime, Ferrari's military service turned what is usually a mitigating factor at sentencing into an aggravating factor.
"As an active Marine, Ferrari should have been more sensitive to the dangers of high-powered firearms in the wrong hands," Thakkar wrote in his sentencing papers. "As a Marine, he was supposed to serve this country, not make it (or any other country) more dangerous through the illegal manufacturing and peddling of ghost guns."
Bashant said the manner of the sales -- cash transactions during meetings held in public parking lots -- showed Ferrari should have been aware that the guns were being sought "for unlawful purposes."
Prosecutors sought a sentence of 70 months, but Bashant said among the factors she considered in imposing 37 months was Ferrari's lack of criminal record and his youth, which she said played a role in his decision making.
"He made an impulsive, stupid decision. He did not think through the consequences," she said. "You are really, really lucky this was not someone who then went and used the weapons to kill somebody because you'd be in a completely different place today, and that could easily have happened to you."
