An 18-year-old Willimantic man faces a host of federal firearms charges after authorities say he purchased gun parts online, then illegally assembled and sold the firearms, including four AR-15-style rifles.
Mohammadrez “Reza” Kamali was initially charged Nov. 2 after the U.S. attorney’s office said he sold the four rifles to an undercover federal agent. A federal grand jury indicted Kamali Nov. 14 on a charge of dealing firearms without a license, and then on Friday a superseding indictment was returned adding charges of possessing a firearm made in violation of the National Firearms Act and possession of an unregistered firearm.
He was released on $50,000 bail, but with strict conditions. Among them, he must subject himself to GPS monitoring, house arrest with one of his parents present at all times, give federal authorities access to any computers or electronic devices, not receive any packages from the post office or commercial delivery service and undergo a psychological evaluation.
Kamali came to the attention of authorities in March 2018 when a man called Willimantic police to report a package containing gun parts and addressed to him had been delivered to his home. The man told police he received notification that a second package was waiting for him at FedEx. The man said he had not ordered anything related to firearms and he was concerned the packages were intended for his son, a minor.
Police talked to the man’s son, who said his classmate, Kamali, asked if he could have items shipped to his house. The teen told Kamali no, but Kamali went ahead and did it anyway, according to the government.
Kamali told police that he and the second teen had ordered the parts together.
“Kamali told the investigators that they had ordered an 80 percent receiver and that they were going to mill it out and assemble it,” according to government documents. An 80 percent receiver is a partially completed firearm that requires special tools and skills to complete. It requires additional work to be considered a firearm under federal law. Federal firearms laws do not apply to 80 percent receivers.
Police told Kamali that assembling the firearm would be illegal since he was younger than 21.
Kamali continued to order parts and tools for firearms, including a jig to drill holes in the frame of a pistol, according to the government.
In September, police learned that Kamali was offering to sell handguns and long guns, according to the government. Kamali was knowingly selling the firearms without serial numbers, and claimed he had sold such firearms to several people, according to the government. Police then referred the case to the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
ATF agents tracked the purchases of gun parts, searched Kamali’s home, questioned him and made undercover purchases of illegal firearms from him. Kamali told the an undercover ATF agent he had to sneak weapons out of his home because his parents did not know he was selling them.
Kamali snuck one part of a rifle out of his parents’ house by shoving it down his pants, according to the government. He told the undercover agent he was having a hard time keeping up with demand for his firearms. He also told the agent he was giving him a break on price.
“When I sell to like my actual, uh, my real customers, uh, yeah they don’t want any discount price. They want to pay the full price because they’re mafia guys and they respect what I do,” he said, according to a transcript of a recording of the transaction.
Federal prosecutors are so concerned about Kamali’s alleged conduct they wanted him held in custody pending trial. A U.S. magristrate judge granted Kamali bail, and prosecutors asked a federal judge to review the decision. The judge decided to allow Kamali to remain free on bail, but added restrictions to those already put in place by the magistrate judge.
