Kansas City, Kansas, man sentenced for attacking ATF agent during undercover operation
A Kansas City, Kansas, man faces 15 years in prison for attacking a federal law enforcement agent who was operating undercover.
Nicholas Newman, 20, pleaded guilty in May to one count of forcible assault on a federal officer using a dangerous weapon and one count of using, carrying, possessing and brandishing a firearm in furtherance of a violent crime, court records show.
The charges stem from an incident on Feb. 6, 2020, when two agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives met up with Newman while working as part of undercover operation in Kansas City.
Days earlier, Newman contacted them and said he had a firearm for sale, court records show. They met him at the parking lot of a Sun Fresh grocery store in Kansas City, Kansas, in an undercover vehicle.
He handed one of the agents, who was in the driver’s seat, a black pistol, according to charging documents. The agent put the gun on the floorboard and handed Newman $400 in cash.
Newman then reached down to grab the gun, and “a violent struggle ensued” between the agent in the driver’s seat and Newman, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office. The agent suffered “severe bodily harm” as a result of the physical assault, court records show.
The second agent, who was sitting in the rear passenger seat, got out of the car and approached Newman from behind, according to court records. More ATF agents arrived on the scene and told Newman to put down the weapon. He obeyed and was taken into custody.
Newman’s sentence was handed down this month; he received 10 years for the assault conviction and five years for the firearms offense.
This story was originally published September 29, 2021 at 2:23 PM.
