David Devenny pleaded guilty to one count of unlawfully dealing in firearms and two counts of sale of a firearm to a prohibited person. Unlawful dealing in firearms is punishable by up to five years in prison. Sale of a firearm to a prohibited person is punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
Devenny, formerly of Old Highway 99 Southeast in Olympia, was arrested in November by federal Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agents. The arrest was the culmination of an investigation that began in May 2009, about six months before Brenton’s homicide.
Devenny was not accused of selling the gun used in Brenton’s slaying, which he reportedly told an undercover agent he’d sold at the Puyallup gun show. Rather, the charges filed against Devenny in U.S. District Court in Tacoma alleged that he illegally sold three other guns in February.
A Tukwila man, Christopher Monfort, is charged with aggravated murder in connection with Brenton’s homicide, and he potentially faces the death penalty. In Devenny’s criminal complaint, he says he does not know to whom he sold the gun that killed Brenton.
ATF agents reported recovering 42 guns and $32,000 in cash when they arrested Devenny at his Olympia home.
According to the criminal complaint:
Devenny sold a .40-caliber Glock for $475 and one SKS rifle to an ATF informant Feb. 5. Before the deal was completed, the informant tried to communicate that he was subject to a restraining order; it was in place to prevent him from “harassing, stalking, and threatening an intimate partner.” One the same day, Devenny also illegally sold a Wilkinson 9 mm pistol despite not having a license to sell firearms.
During a separate conversation with an undercover ATF agent at Devenny’s home in January, he “admitted that he was the one that sold the gun that ‘killed that cop and wounded – that lady cop,’ referring to the murder of Seattle police officer Timothy Brenton.”
Devenny also said “that he could not say to whom he sold it, but that he sold it to somebody at the Puyallup gun show. Devenny explained that he had been contacted by the Seattle Police Department, who had traced the gun to the original owner and then to Devenny. Devenny further stated that he did not know to whom he sold the gun because he did not keep records.”
Monfort was not prohibited from owning a gun at the time of Brenton’s slaying, according to a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office. ATF special agent Cheryl Bishop has said that many people who purchase firearms to commit a crime use illegal gun dealers because there is no paper trail.
According to court papers, Devenny went by the nickname “Handlebar Dave” and displayed a blasé attitude about whom he sold guns to and whether those people might have a criminal record.
In January, an undercover agent told Devenny that he had a friend “who wanted to buy a gun but was not able because he had a fight with his wife and indicated that he had a domestic violence conviction.” The agent said his friend went to a gun store, but the dealer told him “he should get a bow and arrow or a black powder gun.”
Devenny interjected that the agent’s friend could “buy it from somebody like me that don’t give a (expletive).”
Devenny later elaborated, “what I don’t know, I don’t care about. Uh, I don’t want somebody coming down here on their own … it’s don’t ask, don’t tell. If I don’t know, then there’s nothing wrong with it.”
Devenny also told an undercover agent he makes “decent” money selling guns, and had been in the trade for about seven years.
An ATF agent began investigating Devenny in May 2009, when the agent received a “multiple sales” report that Devenny had recently purchased nine handguns from one source in Tacoma. According to the report, Devenny had purchased 16 firearms over a five-month period in 2009.
Devenny will be sentenced Jan. 23.
Jeremy Pawloski: 360-754-5465
jpawloski@theolympian.com
