Prosecutors seek surrender of convicted doctor's 93 guns

Federal prosecutors asked Wednesday that 93 machine guns and silencers seized from former Russellville physician Randeep Mann in 2009 be formally surrendered to the government.

Mann is serving a life sentence for orchestrating a 2009 grenade explosion that severely injured Dr. Trent Pierce of West Memphis, the then-chairman of the Arkansas State Medical Board.

At the time of the explosion, the board, which had already sanctioned Mann twice, was beginning an investigation into new allegations that threatened to yank his medical license permanently.

During the investigation into the explosion, federal agents found 98 grenades and hundreds of machine guns and other weapons in and near Mann's house in the Pope County town of London.

A forfeiture complaint filed Wednesday asks that 93 weapons that are regulated by the National Firearms Act and that "no one can lawfully possess" be formally turned over to the government.

It says Mann's wife, Sangeeta "Sue" Mann, and his son, Kundan Mann, were in possession of the illegal weapons after Mann's arrest in the spring of 2009 and never transferred them to a Class III federal firearms licensee as the U.S. attorney's office asked them to do. Consequently, the motion states, agents from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives seized the illegal weapons.

Randeep Mann and Sangeeta Mann were both convicted on Aug. 9, 2010, by a federal jury -- he on numerous charges related to the explosion and she for obstructing the investigation. She was sentenced to a year in prison. Both were fined, as well.

The motion notes that the weapons, which are "contraband," are currently registered to a convicted felon.

The motion doesn't say what the government plans to do with the weapons.

Metro on 07/24/2014

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