Barred from buying firearms, feds say this sex offender built his own machine gun

Prosecutors said he sold the gun to an undercover federal agent.

When he was convicted in 1993 of sexually assaulting a minor, David Lutter was legally barred from owning firearms. So he bought a replica.

But when Lutter met with an undercover federal agent in Verona in January 2017, federal prosecutors said Monday, the replica hadn’t just become a functioning firearm — it was a full-fledged machine gun.

In a statement, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said Lutter, 69, of Verona, on pleaded guilty on Monday in federal court in Newark to possessing a total of three firearms as a previously convicted felon, an offense that carries a maximum potential sentence of 10 years in prison.

In a criminal complaint filed this winter, a special agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said Lutter had offered the converted replica of a Thompson sub-machine gun to the undercover agent for the price of $ 400 — a deal that included 50 rounds of .45-caliber ammunition.

Lutter told the undercover agent he’d fitted the now-functioning sub-machine gun with a “rock-and-roll switch” to select between semi-automatic and fully automatic fire, according to the affidavit.

Prosecutors said Lutter, who was represented in court by the Federal Public Defender’s Office, also sold the agent a .32-caliber revolver and 50 rounds of ammunition for $ 125 as part of the same transaction, and a Colt .45-caliber semi-automatic pistol, bullets and gun parts four months later for $ 500.

Investigators found more gun parts and hundreds of additional rounds of ammunition when they searched Lutter’s storage unit following his arrest last June, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

Lutter’s sentencing has been scheduled for Oct. 30, 2018, in front of U.S. District Judge Esther Salas.

His attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday evening.

Thomas Moriarty may be reached at tmoriarty@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at @ThomasDMoriartyFind NJ.com on Facebook.

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Essex County

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