Ex-GBI agent pleads guilty to taking kickbacks

<p>A former Georgia Bureau of Investigation agent pleaded guilty Thursday to receiving kickbacks for arranging sales of firearms seized by police to a pawn shop in Cartersville.</p><p>James R. Garmon, 52, of Cartersville also admitted failure to properly maintain firearms records, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Atlanta.</p><p>Between December 2004 and October, Garmon brokered at least three deals between the Bartow County Sheriff's Office and Warrens Pawn & Jewelry for the sale of at least 81 firearms valued at more than $5,000, U.S. Attorney David Nahmias said.</p><p>Georgia law requires that firearms seized by a sheriff's office be retained for use in law enforcement, destroyed, or sold at public auction, Nahmias said.</p><p>Garmon received at least $1,600 from the pawn shop, the prosecutor said.</p><p>The GBI agent, a federal firearms licensee, also possessed of a sawed-off shotgun, which he knowingly failed to properly maintain a record of, as required by federal law, Nahmias said.</p><p>Garmon faces sentending Oct. 6 before U.S. District Judge Harold L. Murphy. He faces up to 10 years in prison and a fine of $250,000 on the bribery charge, and up to a year in prison and a fine of $100,000 on the charge of failure to properly maintain records.</p>

http://accesswdun.com/article/2006/7/120043