Blair County man sentenced in federal ‘ghost gun’ case

JOHNSTOWN, Pa. (WTAJ) — A Blair County man is headed to federal prison for his role in a “ghost gun” operation.

Harry Miller, 47, of Martinsburg, was sentenced on Wednesday, March 15, to 120 months or 10 years followed by three years of supervised release. Federal Judge Stephanie Haines imposed the sentence on Miller, stating that they will never know the true scope of his crimes because he sold the guns to people who were unidentified and it would be impossible to know where those guns ended up.

During the sentencing, Assistant United States Attorney Maureen Sheehan-Balchon said that the most offensive part of Miller’s crimes were that he called his weapons “hit-kits,” which implied that they served no other purpose besides to kill people.

“Today’s 10-year sentence reflects the egregiousness of Miller’s illicit business, which saw untraceable firearms distributed throughout our western Pennsylvania community. This office and our law enforcement partners will continue to root out the unlawful trafficking of firearms and hold those who endanger the public accountable under federal law,” U.S. Attorney Eric Olshan said in a release.

The U.S. Attorney’s office had called Special Agent Mamey, who testified that Miller had been in possession of “lightning links,” which turn AR-15’s into machine guns. Mamey explained that when a link is applied to a rifle, the person firing it only has to hold down the trigger once to empty a magazine of any size.

Miller also gave his own statement to the court, where he claimed that he was under a lot of stress because he owed Craig Zahradnik, another Blair County man involved in the making and dealing of the guns, a lot of money. He also apologized to the court and expressed regret for the crimes he committed.

The U.S. Attorney’s office had noted in a Sentencing Memorandum submitted on May 9 that Miller had been known to “boast” on his Facebook page about the guns that were being manufactured. In one post from a Facebook page titled “Harry Miller,” dated Oct. 24, 2015, reads, “100 primed Lake City match grade .308 casings, 100 Hornady 255 grain A-Max boat tail match grade bullets and a pound of Varget gun powder! I am occupied! Lol!”

Another post, from the same account, dated Oct. 22, 2015, reads, “I make my own precision rounds! Store bought can’t compete!”

The U.S. Attorney’s office noted that these posts came after his first felony conviction in 2004. Because of his first felony conviction, Miller was not allowed to own guns.

On Oct. 23, 2023, Miller entered a guilty plea to each of Counts One, Two, Four, Five, Seven, Eight and Nine. The memorandum called for the judge to impose a sentence that was “sufficient but not greater the necessary” and asked for Miller to be sentence to 125 months.

Miller’s attorney, on the other hand, said in his own memorandum that the evidence in the case could easily lead on to the conclusion that the involvement of Miller, a convicted felon on parole, was calculated by Zahradnik.

The memorandum stated that Zahradnik used Miller to hide his own criminal activity, which provided him plausible deniability with a “partner” who was on parole.

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Miller’s attorney also asked the judge to consider his physical condition during sentencing, noting that he suffers from plantar fasciitis, morbid obesity, onychomycosis, lymphedema, sleep apnea, asthma and high blood pressure.

The memorandum asked the judge to consider a sentence of 82 months, three years supervised release, no fine and a $700 special assessment.

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