A former member of the Ohio National Guard was sentenced Tuesday to nearly six years in prison after authorities said he made and sold so-called ghost weapons and made online threats about violence against Jews and black people.
Thomas Develin was sentenced to 71 months in prison on federal weapons charges, according to online court records.
Develin, 25, made and sold 3D-printed guns and made and marketed the sale of devices used to convert semi-automatic weapons to fully automatic weapons, federal prosecutors said. He pleaded guilty in October.
US District Court, Southern District of Ohio
Develin was also charged in state court with making terroristic threats and pleaded guilty to two counts Tuesday, according to state records. He was sentenced to six years, which will run at the same time as his federal sentence.
The comments in a private chat group were violent and racist, said Bob Krapenc, Develin’s defense attorney in the state case.
“I have no reason to think I was ever going to act on this, but that doesn’t take away the utter fear and concern people have when they read these kinds of posts,” Krapenc said.
The posts involved mass violence against Jews and blacks, federal prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memorandum in that case.
A posting at a synagogue where Develin was working security at the time suggested he might join if there was an active shooter there, according to an Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives affidavit in the federal case. In others, she said that she would start shooting at a Jewish school or called for violence against blacks and women.
Develin served in the Ohio National Guard and was deployed to Afghanistan from 2017 to 2018, his federal attorney wrote in court documents.
In a letter to the judge, Develin said he became depressed and drank heavily after returning from Afghanistan. She said her online comments of her were disgusting and came after conversations with friends «went out of control in an undeclared contest to see who would come up with the darkest or ugliest ideas.»
“I never intended to instill fear in the community,” Develin wrote. «Now that our discussions have been made public, I realize the shock, fear and pain it has caused others.»
Develin was also sentenced to six years of supervised release after his prison term, court records show.