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A Nanticoke arms dealer will once again be spending time in a federal prison after admitting he illegally attempted to ship two rifle scopes to an individual in Russia in 2016.

Mark Komoroski was sentenced last week after he previously entered a guilty plea on a felony count of attempting to evade export controls. He was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Malachy E. Mannion to spend seven months in a federal prison.

Komoroski, a former manager of D&R Sports Center on 620 Fairchild St., Nanticoke, was accused of attempting to export two of the rifle scopes to an individual in Russia in February and March 2016 without obtaining the necessary licenses required by federal law. The shop was raided by federal customs agents weeks later.

Komoroski was previously sentenced in 2010 to spend 32 months in prison on very similar charges, when he was accused of attempting to smuggle military equipment into Russia, including firearm magazines and scopes. He was released in late 2012.

In that case, authorities said they believed Komoroski had illegally exported hundreds of thousands of dollars in military equipment, including a nearly $70,000 order for thermal-imaging devices from a Moscow-based company.

Komoroski’s co-defendant in that case, Sergey Korznikov, a Russian national who was president of the Russian company that purchased the equipment, was sentenced to six months in prison.

In this most recent case, Komoroski’s sentencing comes after a legal debate between parties over whether the attempted shipment of the scopes constituted a national security issue, with Komorski’s attorney, Al Flora Jr., arguing the scopes are also available for purchase commercially in Russia.

Flora filed an unopposed motion requesting Komoroski serve his sentence in the Federal Correctional Complex at Allenwood, located partially in both Lycoming and Union counties, so he can be near his family.

Reach Patrick Kernan at 570-991-6386 or on Twitter @PatKernan