A Claremont resident and an Israeli national pleaded guilty to charges of knowingly and willfully conspiring to export AK-47 assault rifles from the United States to Somalia.

Their sentencing in Florida is set for Dec. 14.

Joseph O'Toole, 79, of Claremont and Chanoch Miller, 53, of Israel tried to export the rifles without registering with and obtaining a license from the U.S. State Department's Directorate of Defense Trade Controls.

This was in violation of the Arms Export Control Act and the International Trafficking in Arms Regulations, according to a U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement news release.

The Dec. 14 sentencing will take place in U.S. District Court in Fort Lauderdale. O'Toole and Miller face up to five years in prison with a supervised release of three years, a forfeiture of $116,000 paid to an undercover agent, and a possible fine.

A woman who answered the telephone at O'Toole's Claremont residence late Wednesday said she had "no comment" and hung up.

The case, in which O'Toole and Miller pleaded guilty on Tuesday, resulted from an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Office of Homeland Security Investigations and the Defense Criminal Investigation Service.

Miller contacted O'Toole, a former F-4 fighter pilot and U.S. Air Force colonel, to set up transportation of about 6,000 fully automatic AK-47 assault rifles from Bosnia to Somalia, according to April plea hearing statements and the indictment.

O'Toole and Miller were accused of falsifying documents to conceal that the weapons were destined for Somalia.

In arranging for the transportation of the rifles, O'Toole contacted a person who turned out to be an undercover agent for ICE Homeland Security Investigations in Fort Lauderdale and the DCIS, authorities said.

Later, Miller reportedly agreed to buy 700 AK-47 rifles from the agent as the investigation progressed. The rifles were to be shipped from the United States through Panama and then to Somalia.

According to ICE officials, Miller paid $116,000 to the undercover agent as partial payment of the transportation costs and in commissions to O'Toole for the 700 assault rifle shipment.

Anthony Mangione, the ICE Homeland Security Investigations special agent in charge in Miami, said the case was frightening.

"One of the frightening things we want to say is that these guys, these kinds of arms dealers, they have laundry lists, they're available to the highest bidder. The frightening part is if it's not us, it's somebody else."

While in Claremont, O'Toole was a vocal critic of a proposed affordable-housing project on Base Line Road in the city, serving as a board member on Citizens for the American Dream, a group that was formed to oppose the project.

The City Council killed the project in February 2008.

In 1989, O'Toole and two other men were accused of conspiring to sell three C-130 cargo planes for $12million each to Iran without proper clearance. The cargo planes were owned by the Israeli government.

In 1991, federal prosecutors dismissed the weapons-smuggling charges because their efforts were stifled by the lack of credibility of two customs agents and by Iran-Contra, the arms-for-hostages scandal that involved the Reagan administration, according to media reports.

Iran-Contra embroiled senior U.S. figures, including the White House, in selling arms to Iran, which was under a U.S. arms embargo.


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ICE Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent in Charge in Miami Anthony Mangione said the case was "frightening."


"One of the frightening things we want to say is that these guys, these kinds of arms dealers, they have laundry lists, they're available to the highest bidder. The frightening part is if it's not us, it's somebody else. It's only a matter of time before they get what they want. And sell it to who they want. It's only a matter of time before they got the arms and are sending them to Somalia. It's only a matter of time. It's good we were able to break that down and intercept that right there." 

Mangione said O'Toole's age made the case "uncommon."
"It takes a long time to develop, if you're a business man like this, it takes a long time to develop contacts and trust," he said. "People are in the business for many, many years. But yeah, 80 years is a little uncommon. But to see people involved over 50 years of age is common, it's not uncommon. It just takes a long time (to develop contacts)." 

Mangione said the case was part of a global network. 
"The deal is in terms of this kind of case or crime there are worldwide networks of people acting in conspiracy or acting alone sometimes that have laundry lists of weapons they want to purchase for different governments and different organizations. They travel the world and are weapons buyers. So our task is to identify those purchasers, those buyers, and shut them down. So in terms of were these the largest weapons traffickers in the world, no, but it's part of a global network." 

Mangione said O'Toole and Miller were business associates. He said didn't think there were any politics involved in the crime.
"I don't think anyone of these guys is Somali or of Somali descent," Mangione said. 

Mangione said this particular type of case is "tough" to prove.

"These traffickers travel the world. They're literally men of the world. They don't house themselves in one particular place or another, so they're hard to come on to our radar screen," Mangione said.