Man who sold gun that killed sheriff’s deputy going to prison

A North Las Vegas man who illegally sold hundreds of guns, including two used in fatal shootings, was ordered to serve more than two years in prison, the Department of Justice announced Thursday.

On Monday, U.S. District Judge Jennifer Dorsey sentenced Charles Martin Ellis, 69, to 32 months in prison for buying and quickly reselling more than 200 firearms without a federal license, the U.S. attorney’s office in Nevada wrote in a news release.

An AK-47-style gun Ellis sold in 2017 ended up in the hands of Thomas Littlecloud, a convicted felon, the release said.

Later that year, Littlecloud used the gun to shoot three California law enforcement officers investigating a stolen vehicle at a Sacramento hotel, the release said.

The shootout killed Sacramento Sheriff’s Department Deputy Robert French and Littlecloud, The Associated Press reported.

The following month, Ellis bought a rifle in Las Vegas, the release said. That gun was used in a 2019 killing in Guadalajara, Mexico.

Other guns sold by Ellis — some recovered after crimes — have been seized by law enforcement in Nevada, California, Oregon and Mexico, the release said.

A federal grand jury indicted Ellis in 2018.

Ellis pleaded guilty a year ago to one count of engaging in the business of dealing in firearms without a license and one count of the transfer or sale of a firearm to a nonresident, the release said.