Kansas Man Sentenced To 15 Months In Prison For Conspiring To Sell Illegal Fireworks To Consumers
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NEWS from CPSC

U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission

Office of Information and Public Affairs Washington, DC 20207
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 28, 2004
Release # 04-130 		CPSC Consumer Hotline: (800) 638-2772
CPSC Media Contacts: Scott Wolfson, (301) 504-7051 or Eric Criss, (301) 504-7908


Kansas Man Sentenced To 15 Months In Prison For Conspiring To Sell Illegal Fireworks To Consumers

WASHINGTON, D.C. – A Kansas businessman was sentenced today to 15 months in federal prison for conspiring to sell illegal fireworks and for making false statements. He was also permanently banned from manufacturing, importing, or distributing fireworks. Through the investigative work of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, the conspiracy was dismantled before any consumers were seriously injured or killed.

U.S. District Court Judge J. Thomas Marten sentenced Gerald Lee Dunnegan, 59, of Witchita, for conspiring to sell highly explosive display fireworks to an out-of-state buyer who had falsified Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) documents and intended to sell the fireworks to consumers. Under federal law, both dealers and out-of- state purchasers must possess a license issued by ATF.

Dunnegan, who pled guilty in October 2003, also was fined $25,000, sentenced to two years of supervised release, ordered to forfeit over $400,000 in profits, and is permanently banned from operating a fireworks-related business in the future.

"CPSC's investigative work helped connect the pieces to this puzzle and exposed a dangerous conspiracy to divert to consumers highly explosive, professional fireworks," said CPSC Chairman Hal Stratton. "Our coordination with federal law enforcement to stop this illegal activity may well have prevented deaths and injuries to consumers throughout the Midwest."

Dunnegan, owner of Advanced Imports Inc., admitted to planning the sale of over 1,000 lbs. of display fireworks to Rodney Harris, of Appleton, Wis., in June 1997 and May 1998. In each case, Harris traveled to Wichita, purchased the explosives from Dunnegan with cash, and transported them back to Wisconsin. Dunnegan made the sale with full knowledge that Harris did not have an ATF license and had used a third party in Kansas to falsify ATF documents stating that the fireworks would be used for display purposes in Kansas.

Harris pled guilty in December 1999 to conspiracy to import, deal, and make false statements involving illegal fireworks and was sentenced to 16 months in federal prison and fined $7,500.

Through undercover buys, online purchases, inspections and investigations, CPSC is tracking down and closing illegal roadside stands, warehouses and retail stores that sell professional grade explosives to consumers, and homes that serve as havens for the manufacture of dangerous fireworks devices.

Under the authority granted to it by the Federal Hazardous Substances Act, the CPSC prohibits the sale of the most dangerous types of fireworks, and the components intended to make them. The banned fireworks include various large aerial devices, M-80s, quarter-sticks, half-sticks, and other large firecrackers. Any firecracker with more than 50 milligrams of explosive powder is banned under federal law, as are mail order kits and components designed to build these fireworks.

The CPSC worked closely and cooperatively on the prosecution with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives in Wichita; the Department of Justice's Office of Consumer Litigation; and the United States Attorney's Office in Kansas.