Militia Figure To Serve 27 Months In Prison

A principal figure in a pipe-bomb conspiracy case involving Washington militia and freemen activists was sentenced Friday to 27 months in prison for machine gun charges.

U.S. District Judge John C. Coughenour also fined Gary Marvin Kuehnoel, 48, of Bellingham, $6,000 and ordered him placed on three years’ supervision following his release from prison.

In February, Kuehnoel, a gunsmith, was convicted of one count of possession and transfer of a machine gun and one count of possession of a machine gun for offenses that occurred in December 1995 and July 1996.

In the same case, a mistrial was declared after the jury failed to reach a verdict on anti-government conspiracy charges against Kuehnoel and six others.

Kuehnoel is not among the five defendants who will be retried on the conspiracy charge on June 23.