A federal judge on Tuesday sentenced a Umatilla County man to more than three years in prison for stealing 20 guns from a firearms dealer and then selling or trading the guns to a drug trafficker.
U.S. District Judge Amy Baggio called the crime “particularly egregious.”
Brady Lee Faircloth, 40, snatched $13,504 worth of guns, ducking in and out of the Milton-Freewater Ranch & Home store within two minutes in the “wee hours of the night” after breaking into the shop.
He then traveled to Washington state, where he sold the guns for cash and methamphetamine, knowing the weapons would end up in the hands of gang members and convicted felons, the judge said.
Baggio said she understood Faircloth’s actions were driven by his addiction to drugs and alcohol, but that he needed to be held accountable.
As she was about to announce her sentence, the mother of Faircloth’s children stood in the courtroom’s public gallery and urged the judge to consider their children.
“He already acknowledged he messed up,” said Leanne Faircloth. “Now you’re punishing my children as well.”
Baggio said she took everything into account when determining Brady Faircloth’s prison term, including that he appears to be committed to his recovery and is working to become a good father to his five children.
“But there has to be accountability for what you’ve done in the past,” for an “extremely serious” crime, the judge told Bryan Faircloth, who was seated beside his lawyer.
She sentenced Brady Faircloth, of Weston, to three years and one month in federal prison. He had pleaded guilty in July to one count of theft of firearms from a federal firearms licensee. She allowed him to surrender to the U.S. Marshals Service to start his prison term on Dec. 29.
On Jan. 18, 2023, Faircloth pried open the door to the Ranch & Home business after an accomplice backed a pickup truck up to the front of the store. Inside, he smashed glass display counters and removed the guns. He later sold the guns to his methamphetamine supplier, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Kate A. Rochat and the judge.
Faircloth had 15 prior convictions at the time and was a felon barred from possessing any guns, according to the judge and court records.
Faircloth’s defense lawyer, Ernest Warren Jr., urged a sentence of time served for the approximately seven months his client had spent in custody before his release.
Faircloth has a full-time job at United Salad Company and recently completed a drug treatment program for the first time in his life, Warren said.
Faircloth, through tears, acknowledged his actions were “disgraceful, shameful and misguided.”
“I’ve truly accomplished a new way of life for the first time in my life,” he said. “It is the hardest thing I have ever had to overcome.”
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