Columbia arms dealer ran thriving illegal gun business, feds charge

A 27-year-old Columbia man who ran a thriving business illegally selling guns to various people and pawnshops has been indicted on various charges including operating as an unlicensed gun dealer, according to a federal indictment made public Friday.

The man, Da Vonta Da Quan Markquis Beard, bought more than $50,000 worth of guns, ammunition, body armor and weapons accessories on the Internet during a recent 11-month period, then had them shipped to licensed firearms dealers in South Carolina, where he picked them up and then resold them, according to the indictment.

Beard has pleaded not guilty.

According to the indictment and evidence in the case, Beard made nearly all profit on his gun deals because he acquired the weapons including semi-automatic rifles and accessories on the Internet using a fraudulent bank account he claimed to have on an Alabama-based credit union, then resold them for cash.

Beard was also indicted for wire fraud in his use of a false credit union account number to finance his gun purchases through the Internet.

Beard bought many of his guns through Atlantic Firearms, a Maryland-based firearms distributor, and sold some of them through various online platforms including Armslist.com, according to the indictment.

One of Beard’s “customers” turned out to be an undercover agent of the South Carolina office of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the indictment said.

It is legal for people to buy guns on the Internet, but the seller has to ship the guns to a licensed gun dealer. The gun dealer will run a criminal background check on the person picking up the Internet-bought guns.

However, if the person picking up the guns has a South Carolina concealed weapons permit, that person can buy the guns without having a records check done on him. Beard had a concealed weapons permit, so he didn’t have to have a criminal records check run on him each time he picked up guns and related items that had been shipped to him through local licensed gun dealers, according to statements in open court Friday at Beard’s bond hearing.

Magistrate Judge Paige Gossett set Beard’s bond at $25,000 — low in large part because he had no criminal record and had family in the community who secured his bond.

Only people without criminal records can have a concealed weapons permit.

As part of the conditions for making bond, Beard has to surrender his concealed weapons permit, stay away from licensed gun dealers and turn over to federal authorities all his firearms, Gossett said.

Beard also has to stay away from online weapons sales sites and have no contact with anyone to whom he sold guns, body armor or ammunition.

“There are a lot of conditions on your bond,” Gossett told Beard.

If convicted, Beard would face a prison sentence up to 20 years. However, since he has no criminal record, he would likely receive a considerably lower sentence.

Federal prosecutors on the case are Assistant U.S. Attorneys Elliott Daniels and Chris Taylor. Beard’s attorney is federal public defender Daniel Leonardi.