Trooper sold guns — including service weapons — without a license in NC, feds say
A former North Carolina state trooper and self-described “firearms enthusiast” accused of selling guns without a license has pleaded guilty to felony charges in federal court.
Timothy Jay Norman, 47, entered an agreement in the Middle District of North Carolina on March 10 in which he pleaded guilty to one count of dealing firearms without a license, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a news release.
Norman, who is from Browns Summit, North Carolina, was a trooper with the State Highway Patrol for nine years until he resigned last year. Prosecutors said he bought and sold decommissioned service weapons that he considered to be collector’s items at a significant markup without the requisite license to do so.
“Tim Norman is a man of faith and family (who) is also an avid gun collector,” his attorney Josh Howard told McClatchy News in a statement. “He accepts responsibility for the fact he should have had a license to sell what was a small fraction of his collection during a time the pandemic exponentially drove up the value of his collection.”
Norman said in court documents that he is a “firearms enthusiast, hobbyist, collector and hunter.” He started working for the N.C. State Highway Patrol out of Guilford County in 2012.
The case dates to early 2021, when prosecutors said the FBI was told by a confidential informant that a convicted felon, Tommy Lee Hudson, was buying guns from a state trooper, later identified as Norman. The government said Hudson served prison time in Rockingham County for stabbing someone and was barred from owning or possessing a gun as a felon.
Investigators then used the confidential informant to purchase firearms from Norman, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. Those purchases included a decommissioned Sig Sauer semi-automatic pistol engraved with the N.C. State Highway Patrol badge, a Beretta 12-gauge shotgun and an Arma Lite AR-15 semi-automatic rifle.
Norman was accused of selling one of the guns out of the trunk of his patrol car at an abandoned gas station.
Prosecutors filed a criminal complaint against Norman on July 1, and he was questioned by agents with the State Bureau of Investigation and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives at troop headquarters in Guilford County on July 7.
His attorney said in court filings that Norman signed his resignation papers that day and left headquarters in handcuffs.
Investigators later searched his home in Browns Summit, where prosecutors said they found 54 guns spread around the house in dresser drawers, propped up against a closet wall and resting on the back of a toilet. They also reportedly found two guns in his patrol car and an envelope with $2,000 in cash.
Norman faces a maximum of five years in prison when he’s sentenced on June 2, though federal sentences are typically far less than the maximum.
This story was originally published March 14, 2022 at 4:03 PM with the headline "Trooper sold guns — including service weapons — without a license in NC, feds say."
