Scott Leavitt of Shamrock, Texas Sentenced For Illegally Possessing Firearms

A Wheeler County man has been sentenced to nearly two years in prison for illegally possessing firearms.

Scott Leavitt of Shamrock, Texas, was sentenced Friday morning to 21 months in federal prison, following his May 2013 guilty plea to one count of unlawful possession of a machine gun.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, deputies were called to the Cemetery Road Trailer Park in Shamrock on August 14^th, 2012. They found the 39-year-old Leavitt outside a mobile home, suffering from a severe injury to his hand.

Leavitt reportedly said that he had been making an explosive device and that it exploded in his hand. He was taken to the hospital for treatment.

Deputies obtained a warrant and searched Leavitt’s mobile home.

They found remnants of the explosive device that had injured Leavitt, some hand grenades, and two machine guns that had been originally manufactured as semi-automatic weapons, but had been converted to fully automatic weapons.

The case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, the FBI, the Wheeler and Winkler County Sheriff’s Office, and the Amarillo Police Department’s bomb squad.

Shamrock is located around 96 miles east of Amarillo.