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Flathead County man sentenced on federal weapons charges

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Bruce Boone Wann, 61, of Kila (Missoula County Sheriff’s Office photo)

MISSOULA – A Kila man was sentenced to four years in prison and three years of supervised release after admitting to illegally possessing a machine gun and other weapons crimes.

Bruce Boone Wann, 62, pleaded guilty in December to illegally possessing a machine gun, an unregistered silencer, a short barreled rifle and a destructive device, specifically, a grenade.

Chief U.S. District Judge Dana L. Christensen presided.

Prosecution evidence showed that during an investigation that began in June, law enforcement learned that Wann had kept buried or hidden firearms, ammunition, a grenade, dynamite, and other items on various properties in the Marion area. Wann claimed he had stolen some of the items from a government bunker in California many years earlier.

Wann later broke into a Flathead County residence where he had previously arranged for a number of his other firearms to be stored. Wann then took not only his firearms but also stole other firearms that did not belong to him.

Investigators also learned Wann had made various threats of violence against people in Flathead County.

The case was investigated by the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Secret Service and Flathead County Sheriff’s Office.