Hilton man who manufactured guns in his basement will spend 5 years in federal prison

HILTON, N.Y. — A pipeline, helping the flow of illegal guns into Rochester, has been cut off. Paul Pringle, 44, of Hilton will spend the next five years in federal prison after pleading guilty to making “ghost guns” and selling them to people in Rochester who otherwise would not be able to legally own a gun.

Federal prosecutors are ramping up efforts to slow down the flow of illegal guns into the City of Rochester. “You can buy these off the streets from people like Mr. Pringle who were buying the kits and manufacturing them in his basement and selling them, so it is a problem, it is a big problem and it’s increasing the number of illegal guns in the Rochester community,” says Everardo Rodriguez, the Attorney-in-Charge of the Rochester Branch of the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

When investigators raided Pringle’s home along Underwood Avenue in Hilton, they not only found the three-time felon had guns and ammunition he isn’t legally allowed to own, they found a small business of sorts: “12 jigs if you will, that are sent to people to manufacture a personally manufactured, namely ghost guns … he had 12 of them in his basement, which led us to believe that he was in fact making them in the basement and selling them,” Rodriguez says.

Jennifer Lewke (News10NBC): Is it possible that he had already sold many guns out into the community?

Everardo Rodriguez: Yes … he manufactured and sold to others in excess of 10 personally manufactured firearms, according to the plea deal he signed off on.

The other dozen kits in his home were apparently the next wave of sales.

Jennifer Lewke: A dozen guns, that’s a lot of guns off the street by taking this guy out of play.

Everardo Rodriguez: Well, unfortunately we haven’t removed the guns. That’s the problem here. We are in the process of investigating where they went and to whom they went in the hope we can identify those guns (that were already sold) and retrieve them.

The investigation into who bought the gun that Pringle was making continues.

Pringle first became a suspect in a theft from a home in Hilton of guns and other items back in February. Based on that situation, investigators were able to get a search warrant for his home, at which time they found the illegally owned guns and ammo he had and the kits and tools to make “ghost guns.”