PORTLAND — A former Livermore Falls woman who tried to buy a gun for someone else admitted Wednesday she lied on a federal gun purchase form.
Nichole Bachelder Franklin County Detention Center
Nichole Bachelder, 40, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to making false statements during the purchase of firearms, a felony punishable by up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000, plus supervised release of up to three years.
Prosecutors said Bachelder lied when filling out forms at a licensed federal firearms dealer in Turner, writing that she lived at an address in Livermore Falls, was the actual buyer of the gun and that she was not a user of, or addicted to, any controlled substance.
According to investigators, Bachelder had been evicted from her Livermore Falls apartment in September, a month before she filled out the firearms dealer’s paperwork with that same address on Oct. 19, 2022, when she tried to buy the gun.
Bachelder had been texting with someone identified only as “Mike,” who had been quizzing her about her unsuccessful efforts to buy the gun.
She later admitted to agents that a co-conspirator had asked her to buy the gun and gave her money for the purchase as they were parked in a pickup truck at the gun shop, according to court papers.
The man in the truck had tried to conceal his identity by wearing a hood and lowering himself in the seat, according to court papers.
Bachelder also later admitted to agents that she was a user of crack cocaine.
She had tried on Oct. 19, 2022, to buy a Glock, model 26, 9 mm pistol at the shop, having called a day earlier to ask about the gun.
After she filled out the paperwork at the shop, she got a delayed response from the National Instant Background Check system, according to court papers.
She paid for the gun, but left the shop without it.
On Nov. 4, 2022, federal agents got a search warrant for her text messages. Later that month, after agents shared her texts with her, she admitted she’d lied on the form.
She went back to the gun shop, which refunded her money. She gave the money to the person who had given it to her to buy the gun, saying she didn’t want to be involved any further, according to court papers.
On Wednesday, Bachelder admitted that she’d lied on the form and was guilty of the federal crime.
She has reached no agreement on sentencing with prosecutors in exchange for her plea, Assistant U.S. Attorney Noah Falk said Wednesday.
Bachelder is being held at Strafford County Jail in Dover, New Hampshire, while awaiting sentencing.
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