EASTMAN, Ga. — An Eastman woman was sentenced to 2.5 years for lying on federal gun forms after the guns she purchased were recovered 1,000 miles away in New York, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Georgia.
They say Desirae Heinsler, 38, had made false statements when buying roughly 17 guns from Sellers Feed & Seed in Hazlehurst in Jeff Davis County, an animal feed store that also sells guns and ammunition.
While she swore on the firearm applications that she was the actual gun buyer, federal prosecutors say she was purchasing the guns for someone else.
According to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, that's called a "straw gun purchase," when a person buys a firearm for someone who is barred by federal law from possessing guns.
In five transactions between July 20, 2020 and July 24, 2021, the indictment says Heinsler purchased 17 guns — a mix of pistols and revolvers — that were actually intended for someone else.
Prosecutors say the guns were ultimately recovered over 1,000 miles away in Rochester, New York.
They say law enforcement from the Rochester Police Department discovered the guns, which were being possessed illegally. After doing additional investigative work, prosecutors say the guns were eventually traced back to Heinsler's purchases at Sellers Feed & Seed.
While Heinsler was originally indicted on six counts of making a false statement during the purchase of a firearm, she pleaded guilty to only one county in exchange for the other charges being dropped, the prosecutors said.
Ultimately, U.S. District Court Judge Lisa Godbey Wood sentenced Heinsler to 2.5 years in prison.
According to her indictment, Heinsler would go to Sellers Seed & Farms to buy guns that she was actually buying for someone else.
On July 20, 2020, Heinsler went to the store and purchased a Springfield Model 911, Springfield Model EMP and a Keltec Model P3, the indictment shows.
But on the forms, the indictment said she attempted to deceive the store about the "lawfulness of the sale of the firearms" when she "falsely represented that she was the actual buyer of the firearm" when she was, in fact, "not the actual buyer of the firearm."
Then, 10 days after that first purchase, the indictment says she bought another four guns while again lying on the forms: two German Sports Gun Model GERG 2210FF, FMX Model 9C and Ruger Model EC9s.
Eight days later, Heinsler was accused of doing the same thing again.
The indictment says Heinsler purchased five firearms on Aug. 7 while misrepresenting the true buyer of the firearms.
That time, prosecutors say, Heinsler bought a Keltec Model PF-9, EAA Model EARB, Bearman Model BBG96B, Diamondback Model VK9888 and Keltec Model P1.
While that was her last believed misrepresentation of 2020, the indictment includes two cases of Heinsler allegedly lying on purchasing forms in the new year.
They say she purchased two additional guns on Feb. 5, 2021 and then once more in July 24, 2021 with the purchase of three more pistols.
That brought the total number of firearms included in the indictment to 17.
After her 2.5-year prison sentence wraps up, Heinsler will be subject to 3 years of supervised release.
She will also have to go through substance abuse and mental health programs, submit to drug testing and submit to searches of her houses, property and electronic devices.