Ghost-gun maker handed stiffest term

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 14/04/2023 (1014 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Winnipeg man who created and trafficked so-called ghost guns on the city’s black market has received what is believed to be the longest prison sentence in Canada for weapon offences involving a 3D printer.

Blake Ellison-Crate, 24, pleaded guilty Wednesday to 13 firearm offences — including manufacturing and transferring restricted firearms and possession of 3D-printed firearm frames — and was sentenced to 12 years in prison.

One of the firearms involved was used in the shooting of two boys at the Red River Ex last summer.

Ellison-Crate’s sentence was jointly recommended by Crown and defence lawyers and endorsed by provincial court Judge Alain Huberdeau.

“Although we will never know the true extent of the harm he has committed and has inflicted on our community, we know that because of his actions the streets and neighbourhoods of Winnipeg, as well as the province as a whole, will be a far less safe place and the criminal element of our society has been empowered by his actions,” Huberdeau said.

Ellison-Crate, who has never had a firearm licence, was arrested following a highway stop on the Trans-Canada Highway near Headingley on Sept. 27, 2021.

Police found an imitation Glock-style firearm under the driver seat and a 9-mm rifle and assorted ammunition in the trunk. Ellison-Crate told police the rifle belonged to a man who had borrowed his car.

He was charged with unauthorized possession of a firearm and released on an undertaking.

RCMP dug further into his story and found that the same Possession and Acquisition Licence (PAL) that was used to buy the rifle was also used to purchase a SKS rifle capable of firing the ammunition found in Ellison-Crate’s car.

Days later, police executed a search warrant at Ellison-Crate’s Sherbrook Street apartment and seized a rifle and ammunition, a revolver with no serial number, loose rounds of ammunition and several electronic devices.

He was again arrested, charged and released.

A subsequent analysis of Ellison-Crate’s iPad and cellphone found “content consistent with firearm trafficking,” said an agreed statement of facts read out in court. The devices contained messages on Instagram, Facebook and Textnow apps showing Ellison-Crate “openly communicating regarding firearms trafficking” both before and after his Sept. 27 arrest.

In one Sept. 21 message, Ellison-Crate told a prospective buyer he had a connection in Portage la Prairie who supplied him with gun frames and that he used Glock parts to build guns. In another message following his arrest, Ellison-Crate told a prospective buyer police had seized his firearms, “but he could get more,” said the agreed statement of facts. Ellison-Crate offered to use the licence of a legitimate PAL holder to buy firearms for the prospective buyer.

On April 12, 2022, St. Norbert resident Brandon Richard was shot and killed after his vehicle was ambushed by two gunmen on Burrows Avenue. A month later, police arrested Mario Nippi and Francisco Flett in the killing and after a search of their home found a 10-mm Glock-style handgun and auto sear, a trigger mechanism that makes a firearm fully automatic. While not the gun used in the killing, it had been assembled by Ellison-Crate and included parts made on a 3D printer, court heard.

Police executed a second search warrant at Ellison-Crate’s home on June 25, 2022, and seized three 3D-printed handgun receivers or frames, other legally manufactured and prohibited gun parts, ammunition and electronic devices.

Analysis of Ellison-Crate’s electronic devices revealed he had recruited people through Kijiji to 3D-print handgun receivers for him.

“Ellison-Crate would provide these individuals with the files he wanted printed under the guise they were video game controllers,” said the agreed statement of facts.

Ellison-Crate sourced other parts from individuals and companies in Manitoba and out of province. Videos found on his cellphone showed him tooling and assembling the weapons in his bathroom.

Communications found on his cellphone revealed Ellison-Crate and another man, Jashon Fernando, “engaged in firearms trafficking as a joint enterprise.”

“Generally, Ellison-Crate filled the role of ‘builder’, sourcing and assembling 3D-printed firearms, while Fernando handled sales,” says the agreed statement of facts.

Recordings of phone calls Ellison-Crate made to Fernando following his arrest show he continued to conspire to traffic firearms while in remand custody at Headingley Correctional Centre.

“A review of these calls demonstrated Ellison-Crate advised Fernando with respect to the mechanics of building 3D-printed firearms, instructed him as to which 3D-printing service providers to engage and where to source parts, and discussed how to funnel the accused’s share of their profits to him,” said the agreed statement of facts.

In a July 28, 2022, conversation with Fernando, Ellison-Crate claimed responsibility for trafficking a number of the firearms mentioned in Winnipeg police media reports, including the 3D-printed Glock-style handgun used to shoot two boys at the Red River Exhibition on June 20, 2022.

On another call, Ellison-Crate said police found some of his guns at a homicide scene, and another at a drug house. “But you know what’s sick about it?” he said. “None of my DNA was on those ’cause multiple people were touching them, right? So, my fingerprints got just wiped under.”

The judge said Ellison-Crate was involved in a “sophisticated commercial operation” and clearly knew the “trail of destruction” he was leaving behind him.

“Though we will never know the total number of firearms he manufactured or trafficked, it is reasonable to believe the number is of a high volume,” he said.

A 16-year-old boy and an 11-year-old boy were taken to hospital with non-life threatening injuries after they were hit by gunfire at the Red River Exhibition. An 18-year-old man has pleaded guilty to one count each of discharging a firearm with intent and aggravated assault. He is awaiting sentencing.

» Winnipeg Free Press