Nashville Quartet Charged In Smyrna Gun Store Robbery, 4 Others

NASHVILLE, TN -- A federal grand jury indicted four Nashville men Wednesday in connection with a rash of gun store thefts across Tennessee and Kentucky, the U.S. Attorney announced.

Keith "Lil Keith" Swanson, 22; James D. Hudgens, 26; and Karshma F. Dardy, Jr., 20; are charged with conspiracy to steal, possess and sell stolen firearms. Keshawn Martin, 19, is charged in a separate indictment with possession of a stolen firearm.

The indictment also charges Swanson, Hudgens and Dardy Jr. with possessing stolen firearms and unlawfully engaging in the business of selling firearms.

According to the indictment, between January 10, 2018 and February 18, 2018, 125 guns were stolen during the burglaries of five gun stores:

• Whittaker Gun Store in Owensboro, Ky. had 63 firearms stolen January 10
• Wheeler’s Fastway Gun and Pawn in Bowling Green, Ky. had 26 firearms stolen January 17
• Kwik Cash Pawn Shop in Smyrna had eight firearms stolen January 19
• King’s Firearms and More in Columbia had 24 firearms stolen February 13
• Guns and Gear in Paris had 12 firearms stolen February 18

“We realize that the recent rash of gun store burglaries and the substantial number of stolen guns potentially getting into the wrong hands have placed our communities at significant risk,” said U.S. Attorney Don Cochran said in a release. “I commend the ATF and our local law enforcement partners for their swift action in identifying those responsible and recovering many of these stolen firearms. We will continue to aggressively to pursue others who are involved in these crimes as well as other gun store thefts not addressed here today.”

According to investigators, Swanson and others began recruiting individuals, including juveniles, to participate in gun store burglaries During the investigation of these burglaries and as the thefts continued to occur, agents found several “for sale” listings of similar firearms on the website Armslist.com. The indictment alleges undercover agents were able to purchase several of the stolen firearms from Hudgens and Swanson.

On February 23, agents interviewed Dardy in the Sumner County Jail, where he was being held accused of carjacking, and say they were able to determine he participated in some of the burglaries.

According to federal agents, Metro Police found a pistol on Martin after a March traffic stop, which was later to determined to have been stolen in the King's Firearms break-in

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