The prosecution contends Stan Ford was “ready, willing and able” to illegally sell machine guns and labored to hide his actions from authorities.
But a lawyer for the now-suspended Denver firefighter said Monday in federal court that Ford was reluctant and was cajoled into the crimes by a confidential informant who worked on Ford for more than a year.
The opposing views were expressed Monday in opening arguments in Ford’s criminal trial on federal weapons charges.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Mackey said Ford’s furtive actions and incendiary talk were more than enough justification to launch a Joint Terrorism Task Force investigation.
Mackey outlined the tip that law enforcement got from a friend of Ford’s and said that from the start, Ford was willing to sell machine guns for profit, knowing it was against the law.
The only entrapment, Mackey said, was of his own making.
“He was entrapped by greed,” Mackey said. “He was entrapped because he felt he was above the law.”
However, defense attorney Will Hood contended that the government informant met or spoke with Ford dozens of times before Ford agreed to conduct the first illegal sale.
Ford is charged with three counts of selling a machine gun and one count of possessing a firearm with an obliterated serial number.
Hood also said the task force invested an extraordinary amount of resources into pursuing Ford, including extensive investigation of phone and bank records for Ford’s friends and relatives.
While the investigation may have been warranted at the outset, he said, it ended up being overzealous.
“The government can’t be faulted for starting down this path,” Hood told jurors. “They can be faulted for staying on it.”
The trial continues today in U.S. District Court in Denver.
Staff writer Alicia Caldwell can be reached at 303-820-1930 or acaldwell@denverpost.com.
