Horse Cave man sentenced for stealing firearms from employer

HORSE CAVE, Ky. – 41-year-old Brandon Wayne Parker tried his hand at theft… but this was no petty burglary… He stole almost $100,000 worth of guns. 

Parker pleaded guilty to stealing approximately 335 firearms from Master Pawn in Horse Cave while he worked there as a manager from 2016-2018.

The Horse Cave native learned his sentence Wednesday – 82 months in federal prison and Parker will have to pay restitution for stolen firearms with no parole.

During his roughly 18 months working at the store he would steal guns while changing the record books, to make it look like legal gun owners were purchasing these missing firearms. It wasn’t until store owner Brian Meadows conducted a  massive inventory check when Parker was out of the office that the discrepancies started to appear.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives acting resident agent in charge Dean Clark said he’s grateful Brian called the ATF.

“This was definitely a rare case. Several of these guns turned up at crime scenes and shootings across the country, so that’s why it’s so important for us to get these guns off the streets.”

Store owner Brian Meadows said the whole ordeal has been hard.

“It took time to get where we are and to be able to carry the products that we carry in the inventory that we carried, and it set us back quite a bit, what he had done to us.”

Brian said this has been a tough ride for him – one where people have tried to slander his name and his business’ name, but he’s going to try to rise above. 

“I’m a little emotional over it. You know, it was a large amount of money, and I hope that when he gets out and goes to rehab and all those things that maybe he can be a better person, and will keep pushing on and try to do the right thing.”