SYRACUSE, NEW YORK - Maximilien R. Reynolds, 21, of Rumson, New Jersey (who resided in Ithaca, New York, while attending college) was sentenced today by Senior U.S. District Judge Thomas J. McAvoy to serve 24 months in prison in connection with his previous guilty pleas to two federal felony firearms offenses, announced United States Attorney Grant C. Jaquith, Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten, James N. Hendricks, Special Agent in Charge of the Albany Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), John Devito, Special Agent in Charge of the United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF)-New York Field Division, Chief Peter Tyler-City of Ithaca Police Department and Chief Kathy Zoner-Cornell University Police. The sentence imposed includes a 3-year term of supervised release following the defendant’s release from prison and orders him to receive mental health services and drug treatment.
On November 13, 2018, Maximilien Reynolds pled guilty to one count of willfully causing false statements to be made to a licensed firearms dealer during the purchase of a firearm (a Savage MSR-15 Multi-Caliber .223/5.56mm Patrol Rifle) and one count of possessing firearms not registered in the National Firearms Registry and Transfer Record, related to his possession of a sawed-off Savage MSR-15 Multi-Caliber 223/5.56mm Patrol Rifle, a destructive device (bomb), and a silencer. The guilty plea followed an investigation that was begun in late February 2018 after an employee at Walmart in Ithaca notified police that Reynolds had visited the store on February 23, 2018, was acting and appearing strangely, and had purchased a large quantity of ammunition and other items.
On March 7, 2018, Ithaca Police and FBI Special Agents interviewed Reynolds in Ithaca, at which time he gave them written consent to search his apartment and car. During the search of the apartment, Ithaca Police, FBI and ATF Agents, assisted by the New York State Police, recovered a Savage MSR-15 Multi-Caliber 223/5.56mm Patrol Rifle with a telescopic sight, 917 rounds of .223 rifle ammunition, 17 thirty-round ammunition magazines, 6 ten-round ammunition magazines, 134 rounds of 12-gauge shotgun ammunition, a silencer, a destructive device containing ball bearings, two bullet-proof vests, two gas masks, hundreds of ball bearings, wound kits (field dressings), consumer grade fireworks, chemicals for making explosives, fuse cords, a pipe section and endcap, as well as other tactical items. Reynolds was voluntarily admitted for a mental health examination at that time, and was arrested and charged on March 15, 2018.
As part of his guilty plea, Reynolds also admitted that he possessed a .25 caliber Bauer Arms semiautomatic pistol with an obliterated serial number that was located and recovered from the Cayuga Canal by New York State Police divers after friends of the defendant disposed of it there following his arrest. At the time of his arrest on March 15, 2018, Reynolds was a part-time student at Tompkins-Cortland Community College. He was previously enrolled as a full-time student at Cornell University, but was on an academic leave of absence.
This case was investigated by Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the City of Ithaca Police Department, the Cornell University Police, the New York State Police and the Tompkins-Cortland Community College Campus Police and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Southwick with assistance from the Tompkins County District Attorney’s Office.
