10-year sentence given in gun case
Miller to serve time for role in making, selling illegal firearms
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JOHNSTOWN -- A Martinsburg man will spend the next decade, and possibly more, in prison for his part in an illegal firearms and manufacturing business that operated in the Altoona area from May 2022 until April 2023, according to a sentence handed down Wednesday by U.S. District Judge Stephanie L. Haines.
Harry Miller, 48, has asked that he be permitted to serve his 120-month federal sentence imposed by Haines in a prison close to Altoona, but, as the defense recognized, he also faces additional time, possibly up to 18 months, in a state prison for violating his parole on yet another firearms offense, which occurred in 2017.
After his release from prison, Miller will be on supervised release for an additional three years.
Miller was arrested along with a former Altoona Police officer, Craig Zahradnik, 51, last year for manufacturing and selling homemade firearms, ghost guns, hit kits and ammunition.
Zahradnik is alleged to have provided the money while Miller, as defense reported, was a mechanically inclined individual who "was good at building things."
What he built, however, included illegal handguns that could not be traced.
The pair also provided other items that included silencers, homemade rifles and machine guns, as well as a machine gun conversion device.
During the sentencing hearing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Maureen Sheehan-Balchon called an agent of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to testify about the investigation and part of his presentation was a video showing how the conversion device worked.
The video showed an agent firing a handgun one projectile at a time. It took many seconds to empty the handgun.
With the conversion device, the weapon was emptied in three seconds.
Miller and Zahradnik were arrested in April 2023, and Miller entered guilty pleas to manufacturing and dealing in firearms without a license, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, possession of a machine gun, trafficking in firearms, trafficking in firearms without paying a special tax and transferring firearms in violation of the National Firearms Act.
The prosecution sought a federal sentence of 125 months in prison while the defense, led by Assistant Public Defender Christopher B. Brown, suggested to the judge a more appropriate sentence would be 82 months.
As the sentencing hearing moved forward, it became more emotional.
Terry Brown approached the podium. He said he has known Miller for many years.
He said in 2022, he suffered a stroke, and although Miller was not a close friend, the defendant came to visit him in the hospital.
After he got out of the hospital, Miller and another person came to Brown's home and rearranged the furniture so that he could sleep in a downstairs bedroom. He stated Miller also painted his new bedroom.
Miller, he inferred, liked to talk big, but he summed up his feelings by calling the 300-pound Miller "just a big teddy bear."
Miller's mother, Angela Elder of Altoona, also spoke on his behalf. Prior to her testimony, she often warned him that he "over-exaggerated" things.
Miller himself gave tearful testimony, stating he had tried to straighten his life out and was preparing to go to college.
His business with Zahradnik, however, will send him to jail, he explained.
He said his mother and father made sure he had everything growing up and related that his father had him working, buffing cars at an early age.
"I am truly sorry and I realize what I have done. ... I am sorry I let people down who believed in me. I am so ashamed of what I have done and I have asked the Lord for his mercy. I hope I will do good things," he concluded.
One of the people called to the witness stand to testify about Miller's involvement in the firearms enterprise was Wayne Farabaugh of New Paris, who was also charged in the case.
He pleaded guilty in January to one count of conspiracy to manufacture and deal in firearms without a license.
He is slated to be sentenced in June.
Zahradnik has also entered pleas to charges similar to Miller's, but when he will be sentenced remains up in the air.
He was to be sentenced first, but Haines continued the hearing after learning Zahradnik is suffering from cancer.
Zahradnik is presently released to his Altoona home while undergoing treatment.
In mid-April, the Zahradnik defense submitted a status report in which attorney Robert S. Carey Jr. of Pittsburgh stated, "The defense submits that medical circumstances warrant further postponement in this matter."
Both the defense and prosecution submitted presentence statements to Haines outlining their positions.
In those statements, the prosecution related that Miller joined with Zahradnik in May 2022 to establish an illegal firearm manufacturing business.
That was not long after his release from a state prison sentence of four to eight years imposed in Blair County for the possession of prohibited firearms.
He was prohibited from possessing a firearm as the result of a drug offense that occurred in 2004.
Over the years, Miller was convicted of many less serious crimes that included criminal mischief, harassment, disorderly conduct and simple assault.
In 2017, he was also convicted of recklessly endangering another person, according to the prosecution.
He presently was before the court for sentencing after pleading to seven offenses stemming from his partnership with Zahradnik and Farabaugh.
The government argued for the imposition of a prison term of 125 months, which is within the federal sentencing guideline range, and his prison sentence should be followed by several years of supervised release.
"Despite (Miller's) preclusion from possessing firearms, he and Zahradnik endeavored to manufacture and sell untraceable 'ghost' handguns and AR-15 style rifles," the prosecution continued.
The two put together hit kits "that were designed and intended to appeal to prohibited customers to commit untraceable and possibly deadly crimes," the presentence memorandum stated.
The prosecution also noted Miler boasted about his ability to manufacture ammunition.
The defense in its presentence memorandum did not attempt to sugarcoat Miller's background, but it asked the judge to impose a lesser sentence of 82 months.
Brown pointed out that Miller, following completion of his federal sentence, will likely be required to serve another 18 months in a state correctional institution as a penalty for violating his parole on the Blair County sentence.
Miller was arrested on March 8, 2023, after his third sale of ghost guns, silencers, a machine gun conversion device and a personally made rifle to an undercover agent for the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms.
"The day he was arrested, Harry Miller waived his right not to incriminate himself and immediately confessed to his involvement in the illegal purchase of firearm parts and confessed he sold them,'' the defense stated.
Miller then began to cooperate with investigators by leading them to his pickup truck, where he stored a supply of ghost guns, silencers, three personally made rifles and other items of interest.
Miller was the first of the trio to plead guilty and now is the first of the group to be sentenced, Brown noted in the memorandum.
The defense argued that Miller's total incarceration of 100 months followed by three years of supervision would be sufficient punishment in view of his age and his many health problems.
The defense argued also that Zahradnik, a former police officer, provided the money and leadership to the group and saw Miller as "a good choice to be the 'fall guy' should anything go wrong and gave Zahradnik plausible deniability."