Former Maryland Police Officer James Piccirilli, Who Reportedly Fled State After Gun Case Sentencing, Arrested In Indiana
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- A former Maryland police officer who fled the state after being sentenced on a federal charge for possessing an unregistered fully automatic firearm was arrested earlier this week in Indiana, the justice department said.
James Piccirilli, 38, of Mount Airy, was arrested Tuesday in New Salisbury, Indiana, roughly 20 miles west of Louisville, Kentucky. He was sentenced in January to 30 months in prison and three years of supervised release after pleading guilty in the gun case.
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The justice department said Piccirilli, a former police officer in Brunswick, Maryland, tried to have a gun dealer sell an MKE 5.56mm caliber firearm that had been converted into a fully automatic short-barreled rifle in October 2018. The gun was not registered to Piccirilli.
Two months later, ATF agents arrested Piccirilli as he went to try to sell the gun to an undercover agent. When officials searched his home and two vehicles, they reportedly found nearly a dozen unregistered guns and seven unregistered silencers.
READ MORE: Former Police Officer Sentenced For Possession Of Unregistered Fully Automatic Firearm
After he was sentenced on January 13, Piccirilli was put on home monitoring and ordered to report to prison by March 16. Instead, the justice department said, he and his girlfriend disabled his ankle monitor and fled the state on January 24.
Officials tracked them down in southern Indiana where they were arrested. Piccirelli appeared in court on a charge of failing to surrender for service of sentence while his girlfriend, Kellie Warfield, 29, was charged with aiding and abetting. Both have been ordered to be detained and returned to Maryland.