A former Portland police officer has been sentenced for falsifying a federal form to acquire a machine gun.
Levi Thomas Robinson Jr., 69, was sentenced to two months in jail by Chief Judge Jon D. Levy in U.S. District Court in Portland on Thursday, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.
Robinson also will serve two years of supervised release, the U.S. attorney’s office said Friday morning.
Robinson owned Robinson Arms in North Yarmouth, a federally licensed firearms dealer.
In October 2022, he forged a Portland Police Department official’s signature on department stationery as part of an application to transfer a Vector Cal. .45 ACP machine gun, manufactured by Kriss USA Inc., to Robinson Arms from another federally licensed firearms dealer in Rockwell, Texas, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.
A federally licensed firearms dealer may pay a “special occupational tax” to acquire a sample of a post-1986 machine gun to demonstrate their use for governmental entities for possible purchase, the U.S. attorney’s office said.
In order to do so, the dealer must obtain a letter from that entity stating an interest in a machine gun demonstration and purchasing such a weapon.
Robinson pleaded guilty on June 21, 2023.
