An Arizona man has pleaded guilty in a U.S. court in Nevada to illegally manufacturing tracer and armor-piercing bullets found in a hotel room where a gunman carried out the Las Vegas Strip massacre two years ago.
57-year-old Douglas Haig was not accused of a direct role in the Oct. 1, 2017, shooting that killed 58 people and injured more than 850 at an open-air music festival. Prosecutors never alleged that he had advance knowledge of the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.
Haig acknowledged before U.S. District Judge James Mahan in the court hearing Tuesday that he had no license to disassemble, remanufacture and reload bullets at his home workshop in Mesa.
He used the business name Specialized Military Ammunition during sales on the internet and at gun shows around the country. Haig closed the business permanently following an FBI raid less than three weeks after the shooting.
As a convicted felon, Haig now cannot possess weapons or ammunition. The plea avoided a trial that had been scheduled to begin next month.
If convicted, Haig could have faced up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. His plea agreement could get him about two years at sentencing February 19.
His attorneys say Haig plans to seek probation.
