PORTLAND, Maine — A 23-year-old Cushing woman was sentenced to one year of probation for making false statements to a federal agent during a hearing Thursday in U.S. District Court.
Crystal Dinapoli, formerly known as “Crystal Burch,” pleaded guilty to the charge April 1.
According to court records, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives was investigating Dinapoli’s then-boyfriend for illegally possessing firearms in June 2014.
During the previous year, Dinapoli purchased several handguns from a local firearms dealer and agents were investigating whether Dinapoli’s boyfriend had possessed any of them.
An agent went to serve a subpoena on Burch at her home June 16, 2014. When he identified himself, she blurted out she had signed over several handguns she had bought from a Rockland gun dealer the previous December to her boyfriend’s father.
At the same time, agents had the boyfriend’s place of work under surveillance. The boyfriend was identified in court papers only as “J.D.”
The man went to his pickup truck and was on his cell phone when an agent approached him. J.D. turned around and had two handguns in his hands, according to court documents. The guns were confiscated without incident.
J.D. was then arrested, according to the prosecution. The status of his case and his identity were not immediately available.
The offense carried a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The prosecution, however, said in a report filed with the court Burch has been cooperative since the initial incident and recommended probation.