Feds seek forfeiture of guns seized from local businessman
Federal prosecutors want a Washington County businessman who pleaded guilty earlier this year to forfeit two handguns and some ammunition that investigators found during a search of his house six years ago.
The U.S. attorneys office in Pittsburgh filed a civil complaint Thursday asking that a federal judge allow the government to keep .380- and .45-caliber pistols that investigators confiscated during the June 26, 2013, execution of a federal search warrant at Retos’ house in East Washington. Fourteen .380-caliber rounds were also seized during the search.
Retos was not to possess firearms because he had been convicted in 1992 of crimes including tax evasion, mail fraud, making false statements on a credit application and transporting stolen property across state lines.
Retos was subsequently charged in a new criminal case. He pleaded guilty last year to employment tax fraud and false bankruptcy declarations. He was sentenced in November to a year in federal prison and two more of probation. A judge ordered that he report for his sentence no later than Jan. 13.