Former Kansas City area high school employee, coach faces federal gun crimes
A former Winnetonka High School campus supervisor and assistant wrestling coach has been charged in federal court with conspiring to traffic firearms, including machine guns, after allegedly arranging illegal gun sales while on the job, according to court records.
Markel Fluker was charged last month in the U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Kansas, with one count of conspiracy to traffic firearms and four counts of possession and transfer of a machine gun.
Court documents show that Fluker was arrested on Dec. 22 and ordered to be held pending trial. A status conference is scheduled in his case for 1:30 p.m. Jan. 16.
In the order, U.S. Magistrate Judge Teresa J. James wrote that Fluker was charged with unlawfully transferring firearms and possessing or transferring dozens of machine guns, some equipped with conversion devices.
“The Defendant appears to have been the primary source of the weapons and the person who created the 3-D MCD’s (machine gun conversion devices) at issue,” James wrote in the order. “Alarmingly, at least on one occasion, the Defendant participated in the alleged criminal activity while working with a student or students, during his school job.”
No longer employed by North Kansas City Schools
Court documents allege that Fluker worked with his brother, Markeese Fluker, to acquire firearms and convert them into machine guns using illegal conversion devices.
Markeese Fluker has been charged with one count of possession and sale of a stolen firearm and four counts of possession and transfer of a machine gun. He was also ordered held pending trial. A status conference is scheduled in his case for 1:30 p.m. Jan. 16.
Upon learning about the charges, Markel Fluker was placed on leave and is no longer employed by the North Kansas City School District, according to a letter from Winnetonka’s principal, Edward Tate Jr., sent to families and staff at the school.
“Over the break, you may have seen that a now-former staff member was taken into custody on weapons-related federal charges due to some alleged activities he was involved in within the community and across state lines,” Tate wrote in the letter. “At this time, we have no evidence that any of our students were involved.”
The district receives alerts whenever a staff member’s fingerprints are entered into a law enforcement system after an arrest, enabling a quick response, Tate said, adding that the system worked as intended.
According to court documents, the charges are the result of a months-long investigation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, including “controlled purchases” of the converted machine guns and conversion devices, starting in late September.
Student interrupts conversation about firearm sale
While an ATF confidential informant was arranging one of the purchases via FaceTime with Markel and Markeese Fluker on Oct. 7, Markel Fluker stated that he was at work.
After the call, the informant told an ATF special agent that Markel Fluker was “in a classroom with red paint and a white board, and that a high school-aged student came into the room and interrupted the conversation to inquire about a grade or schedule.”
The informant’s account was consistent with the special agent’s information that Fluker was a campus supervisor at Winnetonka High School in Kansas City’s Northland.
The ATF continued to investigate, and while trying to arrange a purchase the night of Dec. 9, an undercover agent for the ATF received a text stating, “I got a wrestling tournament till 9 tonight.”
It was the opinion of an ATF agent that a sale didn’t go through that evening because Markeese Fluker didn’t have access to the firearms and conversion devices due to his brother being at the wrestling tournament, according to court documents. A controlled purchase was arranged for Dec. 11.
Tracker shows Fluker left school prior to sale
At some point in the investigation, agents installed a tracking device on Markel Fluker’s GMC pickup. The tracker showed he left home at approximately 7:10 a.m. on Dec. 11 and arrived at school about 10 minutes later. At 10:23 a.m., he returned home.
At some point that morning, his brother had arrived at the house. An ATF task force officer observed Markeese Fluker leave the house at approximately 11:42 a.m., carrying a long backpack and accompanied by another man. After they left, Markel Fluker returned to school.
Markeese Fluker met with an undercover agent and, during the controlled purchase, pulled firearms out of a black backpack. After the transaction, he returned to his brother’s home. Investigators suspected he was leaving some or all of the funds from the purchase, according to court documents.
On Dec. 18, the ATF executed a search warrant for Markel Fluker’s house.
The ATF allegedly found 31 firearms, along with two short-barreled rifles, a privately made firearm commonly referred to as a ghost gun, seven gun frames printed with a 3D printer in various stages of completion, two drum magazines, about 20 extended magazines, about 1,000 rounds of ammunition, black filament for a 3D printer and $600 in marked bills used in the Dec. 11 controlled purchase.
