Wichitan pleads guilty to possessing gun stolen from undercover detective’s car

A man charged with stealing guns from an undercover detective’s car in Wichita and then selling them for cash and pot has been sentenced to more than four years in prison after he pleaded guilty.

Travis J. Keller, 38, of Wichita, was sentenced Tuesday to 57 months in federal prison after he pleaded guilty to one count of possessing stolen firearms, U.S. Attorney Stephen McAllister said in a news release. Co-defendant Arthur M. Mannie is scheduled for trial Jan. 8 and co-defendant Justin W. Winger is scheduled for sentencing Nov. 19.

They were each originally charged with one count of possessing stolen firearms, possession of a rifle with a short barrel and two counts of possession of firearms in the furtherance of drug trafficking — but the other charges were dropped in Keller’s plea agreement.

In his plea, Keller admitted that he and Winger took three guns from the unmarked vehicle used by a Sheriff’s detetective, the release said.

Investigators said that a Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office detective on April 18 found his three windows broken out of his unmarked vehicle while it was parked in northwest Wichita, according to federal court documents. The three guns stolen were a “shotgun, an assault rifle and a handgun” — all owned by the sheriff’s office — the affidavit states. They were a Glock 9 mm handgun worth about $400, a 12-guage Remington shotgun worth about $550 and a 5.56-caliber Bushmaster M4 rifle worth about $650.

Deputies watched surveillance footage from across the street to identify a pickup involved in the robbery, court documents state. Keller’s roommate, who owned the pickup, told detective’s that Keller had also taken handcuffs and two tactical vests with “Sheriff” written on them. When Keller was arrested, he told detectives that he had been using methamphetamine and had not slept recently.

Detectives then investigated Winger after they received information from a source, the affidavit states. Winger told investigators that Keller’s roommate’s pickup broke down during the robbery and they had to call his girlfriend to pick them up, along with the stolen property.

Winger told detectives that they sold the stolen guns to Mannie for $400 and an ounce of marijuana, court documents state. Various stolen sheriff’s office property was found at Mannie’s house, including an optic and light from the stolen rifle and a Nikon camera that had been used to take photos at a birthday party for Mannie’s mother.

Mannie denied buying and selling the guns, but texts on his phone showed otherwise, court documents state.

The guns had not been recovered when the affidavit was filed on April 26, detectives wrote.