Florida veteran sentenced for unlawful possession of guns, grenades, classified info

FLORIDA –A Tampa man has been sentenced to prison for the unlawful possession of guns, grenades, and classified information relating to national defense, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida (USAO) has announced.

Jeremy Brown, 48, was sentenced last week by U.S. District Judge Susan C. Bucklew to seven years and three months in federal prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release, for possession of unregistered short-barrel firearms, possession of unregistered explosive grenades, improper storage of explosive grenades, and retention of classified information.

In addition, he was ordered to forfeit the unregistered devices traceable to the offense, pay child support arrears, and a special assessment in the amount of $525.

Brown was found guilty after a jury trial on December 12, 2022.

According to evidence presented at trial, on Sept. 30, 2021, the FBI executed an arrest and search warrant at Brown’s residence in Tampa. During the search, agents reported finding an unregistered AR-15-style rifle, modified to have a 10” barrel, in Brown’s bedroom. Agents said they also found an unregistered sawed-off shotgun on a couch inside Brown’s recreational vehicle (RV), parked near his home.

Inside a briefcase next to the shotgun, agents reported finding a classified Trip Report that Brown had authored shortly before he retired from the U.S. Special Forces. Inside the bedroom of that same RV, agents found an ammunition vest they said contained two M-67 fragmentation grenades hidden in the pockets.

U.S. Army records reportedly confirmed that the grenades had originally been in the possession of the U.S. Army.

Trial evidence also established that Brown had served as a weapons sergeant in the Special Forces, which would have given him access to M-67 fragmentation grenades. Finally, the evidence established that the classified Trip Report contained highly sensitive information about U.S. Department of Defense intelligence–gathering tactics, techniques, and procedures, including information about a human source that, if released, could have caused the source to be arrested, tortured, or killed.

“The communities we serve can be assured by investigations such as this that the FBI and its law enforcement partners are working diligently and tirelessly to support the mission of protecting the American people and upholding the United States Constitution,” said FBI Tampa Special Agent in Charge David Walker.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation investigated this case. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Daniel J. Marcet and Risha Asokan, and by National Security Division, Counterintelligence, and Export Control Section Trial Attorney Menno Goedman.