CINCINNATI -- A Hamilton County jury convicted a Lockland man last week of illegally possessing a machine gun and silencer.
Buddy Struckman, 38, faces a mandatory minimum sentence of six years in prison.
On April 20, 2015, police responded to Struckman's Maple Street house after receiving calls that someone fired a shot from it. Police said Struckman barricaded himself inside. SWAT officers responded and Struckman surrendered.
Investigators found a Mac 10 .45-caliber fully automatic machine gun, a silencer and more than 700 rounds of ammunition.
Struckman acted as his own attorney. He insisted he didn't own or buy the gun, and didn't know who owned it.
This wasn't Struckman's first run-in with the law. Near the Canadian border on June 21, 2011, according to documents filed by a federal prosecutor in Michigan, U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents detained Struckman in a cell. FBI and Homeland Security agents interviewed him. Agents found ammunition in his car and terrorist propaganda videos on his cellphone.
Struckman wasn't accused of committing a crime, but federal agents were concerned that he had failed to declare $16,000 in cash he attempted to bring into Canada. Struckman had been convicted of marijuana possession and, according to a filing by an assistant U.S. attorney, Struckman was also "involved in suspicious activity around a mosque in Florida."
The federal prosecutor said "agents found Struckman to be uncooperative, vague and evasive in answering questions."
"Does it bother your comfort level, hearing these things people talk bad about me," Struckman asked a reporter outside of court. "Does that bother your comfort level?"
Agents released Struckman and, after he filed a detailed claim for the money, he got his cash back.
Struckman said he went there looking for a place to live. He left feeling agents "harassed and caused undue psychological and material distress" to him. Struckman never acknowledged the incident to a reporter.
"That's your assumption that I remember," he said.
The jury convicted Struckman on two felony counts in the illegal gun case. The judge revoked his bond, which means he'll remain in jail until he's sentenced.
