29 PALMS EX-MARINE CONVICTED OF ILLEGAL GUN POSSESSION

A federal jury in Southern California has convicted a former U.S. Marine of illegally possessing a chrome-plated AK-47 that may have once belonged to a member of Saddam Hussein’s royal guard. Assistant U.S. Attorney Allen Chiu said in a statement Tuesday that 40-year-old Joel Cleve Miller, of Twentynine Palms, was found guilty last week of illegally possessing a machine gun. Miller was not convicted of transporting the weapon from Iraq. Weapons experts determined the gun was from Iraq, Afghanistan or Pakistan because of its markings. Miller was initially accused of possessing and selling another machine gun but was acquitted on those charges. Miller, who had reached the rank of staff sergeant during a career of more than 20 years, was dishonorably discharged from the Marine Corps in December 2011 for approving false travel claims and stealing from the United States government, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. He faces up to 10 years in prison at his sentencing scheduled for Sept. 27.