A suspended Massachusetts State Police trooper being held in jail is now at the center of a criminal investigation involving the alleged sale of a decommissioned State Police service weapon, according to multiple sources who spoke to 25 Investigates.
Trooper Michael Gagnon is being held at the Plymouth County Jail after being arrested twice in the span of six months: first in November for allegedly punching a 7-year-old in the face, and again in April on a wiretapping charge.
According to court records, Gagnon is accused of hacking the Ring cameras at his estranged wife’s home to spy on her and her father. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges and maintains his innocence.
Now, 25 Investigates has learned federal law enforcement has been looking at Gagnon. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) and the U.S. Treasury Department have been investigating a weapon transfer that traces back to a massive State Police gun trade-in program.
It began on Tuesday, November 25, when Plympton Police arrested Gagnon on the domestic assault charge. Following the arrest, Plympton Police confiscated four firearms and 341 rounds of ammunition. The weapons included a Glock 22, a Sig Sauer Mosquito, a Smith & Wesson M&P .40 caliber, and a Smith & Wesson M&P .45 caliber, according to court documents.
Two sources briefed on the federal probe allege that Gagnon had purchased two .45 caliber Smith & Wesson handguns from a Westwood gun dealer.
Gagnon’s estranged father-in-law, Bill Moran, flew up from Florida to meet with ATF and Treasury agents at his daughter’s home about the gun. Moran says the meeting occurred on March 10, one of the days Gagnon is accused of using Ring cameras to spy on the home.
The firearm at the heart of the probe is unique. It has an engraving from the Massachusetts State Police and the agency’s official seal. The gun was part of a lot of thousands of decommissioned Smith & Wesson .45s that the State Police traded to a gun dealer when the agency began transitioning to a new standard-issue duty weapon. The massive trade-in deal generated a credit of more than $683,000 to help defray the cost of replacement weapons for the department.
Moran stated that the focus of the three-hour interview with federal agents was tracking one of the engraved guns, which, according to Moran and a law enforcement source, went from Michael Gagnon to Dana Smith. Smith is a former Plympton police officer and the Vice Chair of the Plympton Board of Selectmen.
Authorities have been investigating whether Trooper Gagnon acted as a middleman in a “straw purchase” to get the gun to Smith. An illegal straw sale is a federal felony punishable by up to 15 years in federal prison.
When reached for comment on the probe, the ATF would only state that it “cannot offer any comment at this time.”
Gagnon’s defense attorney did not respond to two emails. A lawyer representing Dana Smith responded but declined to comment, citing a lack of information about the probe.
“If a crime occurred,” Moran says, “it should be prosecuted to the fullest extent.”
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