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Minneapolis (KROC AM News) - The Olmsted County Sheriff’s Office is getting credit for helping track down an Owatonna man who was manufacturing and selling illegal guns.

He was also accused of making online threats against politicians and law enforcement officials.

 

A federal judge Tuesday sentenced 23-year-old Dayton Sauke to 31 months in prison for his guilty plea to possessing an unregistered firearm.

McLeod County Jail
McLeod County Jail
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 According to court documents, the Olmsted County Sheriff’s Office received information that Sauke was selling narcotics and manufacturing and dealing firearms without a license. Investigators said Sauke used his Snapchat account to advertise privately made firearms, or “ghost guns,” which he described as “untraceable” and “throwaway murder pieces.”

 

Sauke also posted pictures of a short-barreled shotgun and made several threatening posts about killing law enforcement and politicians.

photo credit: US Attorney for Minnesota
photo credit: US Attorney for Minnesota
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photo credit: US Attorney for Minnesota
photo credit: US Attorney for Minnesota
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Two undercover federal agents met with Sauke last January and bought a gun he had made. Sauke also showed them an illegal sawed-off shotgun.

“Sauke’s actions and statements leading up to his arrest were very concerning, which is why law enforcement quickly intervened,” said ATF Special Agent in Charge William J. McCrary, of the St. Paul Field Division. “We are thankful for the investigative work of the Olmsted County Sheriff’s Office, South Central Drug Investigations Unit, Cannon River Drug Task Force, and our federal partners at the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, FBI, and U.S. Attorney’s Office. I’m especially proud of our ATF agents who quickly responded to this matter, and whose prompt actions helped to interrupt Sauke’s potential plans for violence. This collaborative work readily demonstrates, at all levels, law enforcement’s on-going commitment to public safety.”

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