A licensed firearms dealer in King William pled guilty Thursday to providing a false form to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Thomas Christian Berberich, who owned and operated Pamunkey River Guns, faces up to five years in prison. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 5, 2025.
Berberich has also forfeited his federal firearms license.
According to court documents, on March 14, 2023, the ATF began an inspection of PRG.
After reconciling the firearms at PRG against the open entries in PRG’s acquisition and disposition book, investigators determined that a .410 caliber shotgun had no disposition in PRG’s records and was not present in the store.
On March 22, 2023, an ATF investigator instructed Berberich to report the shotgun as lost or stolen and complete an ATF loss/theft form.
On April 5, 2023, Berberich directed a co-conspirator to come to PRG to complete paperwork for the sale of the missing shotgun. Berberich signed the ATF form certifying that the information on the form was true, correct and complete.
Neither the shotgun nor any money was exchanged.
Berberich sent an email that day to the ATF investigator reporting that the missing shotgun was found on April 6, 2023, in a box in a closet at PRG, and that the shotgun was then sold to a customer the following day.
When the investigator returned to PRG on April 12, Berberich provided him with a copy of the false form.
It is unclear why the ATF began the initial investigation into PRG.
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Crystal Graham
