Three Okaloosa County Residents Charged with Federal Firearms Offenses

PENSACOLA, FLORIDA – Darrell W. Hopkins, 21, of Mary Esther, Florida, and Anthony M. Fannin and Katelin N. Kestner, both 20, of Fort Walton Beach, were arraigned this week in federal court after a grand jury returned an indictment charging them with federal firearms offenses.  Hopkins was charged with unlawfully possessing a firearm as a convicted felon and possessing an unregistered short-barreled weapon made from a shotgun.  Fannin and Kestner were charged with making a false statement.  The indictment was announced by Christopher P. Canova, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Florida.

The indictment alleges that Hopkins, as a convicted felon, possessed a firearm, which was also unregistered, and that Fannin and Kestner falsely stated that this firearm belonged to Kestner’s grandfather.  The National Firearms Act (NFA) requires particular firearms, including machineguns, short barrel rifles, short barrel shotguns, and weapons made from rifles and shotguns, to be registered in the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record.  In this case, the firearm is classified as a “weapon made from a shotgun” because it has a barrel length of less than 18 inches, an overall length of less than 26 inches, and is modified with a pistol grip, meaning it is no longer designed to be fired from the shoulder.

These cases resulted from investigations by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office.  Assistant United States Attorney Alicia H. Kim is prosecuting the case.

The trial is scheduled for February 6, 2017, at the United States Courthouse in Pensacola.

An indictment is merely an allegation by a grand jury that a defendant has committed a violation of federal criminal law and is not evidence of guilt.  All defendants are presumed innocent and entitled to a fair trial, during which it will be the government’s burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt at trial.

The United States Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Florida is one of 94 offices that serve as the nation’s principal litigators under the direction of the Attorney General.  To access available public court documents online, please visit the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida website.  For more information about the United States Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Florida, visit http://www.justice.gov/usao/fln/index.html.

For more information, contact:
Amy Alexander, Public Information Officer
(850) 216-3854, amy.alexander@usdoj.gov