The former manager of Tri-Town Plastics in Deep River pleaded guilty Wednesday in U.S. District Court to violating federal firearms laws by falsifying records to indicate that missing firearms had been scrapped. 

Richard Cummings, 43, of East Haddam pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Stefan R. Underhill to one count of making a false entry in a firearms manufacturer’s acquisition and disposition records, one count of failing to file a theft/loss report and one count of failing to maintain a firearms manufacturer’s acquisition and disposition records. The maximum penalty on each of the misdemeanor charges is one year in prison, five years of probation and a $100,000 fine. He is scheduled to be sentenced on April 15. 

According to the government, Cummings worked as a manager at Tri-Town Plastics, a federally licensed firearms manufacturer in Deep River that has since been purchased by Smith & Wesson. In 2011 and 2012, Tri-Town was under contract to manufacture firearm frames for Smith & Wesson. 

According to the government, in February 2012, after the Plainfield Police Department seized a Smith & Wesson 9 millimeter handgun from a residence, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) learned that Smith & Wesson had no record of the handgun ever having been manufactured. 

According to Tri-Town’s records, the handgun had been scrapped in March 2011. Cummings and a subordinate discovered that there were approximately 23 firearms missing from Tri-Town’s inventory. Rather than report them as missing, Cummings directed the employee to falsely list them as “scrapped” in Tri-Town’s acquisition and disposition records so that ATF would not learn that they were missing and would renew Tri-Town’s license. 

In pleading guilty, Cummings admitted that it was his decision to list the firearms as scrapped. Later, it was learned that five of the 23 firearms were not, in fact, missing, so that the total number of unaccounted firearms remains 17 (not including the one seized in Plainfield). 

The company’s general manager, Robert Brinkerhoff, previously had pleaded guilty to failing to file a theft or loss report and making false statements in a theft or loss report. Both are misdemeanors. He was sentenced to probation and prohibited from working in a firearms-related business for 90 days.