CONCORD, New Hampshire — A Dover man pleaded guilty last week in U.S. District Court to stealing guns from his grandfather and selling them.
Nickolas Oliva, 27, faces up to 10 years for each of the two counts — one count for stealing and the other for selling. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 2.
According to court documents, in December of 2013, Oliva’s aunt called police to report that several of her father’s guns were missing and she suspected her nephew had stolen them because he was a “drug addict.” The documents state that she tried to resolve the matter with Oliva but she called police after he “would not cooperate.”
Through an investigation by the Dover Police Department and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, detectives learned many of the guns were sold to Kittery Trading Post in Kittery, Maine. They also learned that Oliva sold three guns to a coworker. During an interview detectives, the documents state, Oliva admitted to stealing the weapons and selling them. Oliva admitted to having an addiction to narcotics and that he sold the guns to get money for drugs, the documents state. He admitted to stealing 10 guns in total.
In June of last year, in an unrelated case, Oliva was arrested for possession of heroin, according to Dover Police. He pleaded guilty in August.
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