Importing prohibited firearms nets man 3 years in prison
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 25/01/2025 (395 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
A provincial court judge in Brandon sentenced a 22-year-old man to three years in prison on Friday morning, for the importation of prohibited firearms suppressors, also known as silencers.
A press release published by Canada’s Border Service Agency (CBSA) on Feb. 8, 2024, cited Curtis Waldner of Forrest, Manitoba as being charged with providing false statements, smuggling prohibited devices into Canada, possessing, disposing, and selling or transferring illegally imported goods. He was also charged with importing prohibited devices, as well as unsafely storing and trafficking prohibited devices.
Altogether, Waldner was charged under the Customs Act and the Criminal Code.
Waldner is said to have committed these offences between July of 2022 and October of 2023, according to provincial court records in Brandon. He was apprehended initially in British Columbia by border services at the Vancouver International Airport.
He had no prior criminal record before being charged by CBSA, but criminal defense lawyer Jeffrey J. Gindin and federal Crown attorney Matthew Sinclair presented a three-year joint recommendation to Associate Chief Judge Donovan J. Dvorak on Friday morning at Brandon’s provincial court.
Despite no prior history of criminal violations, the charges Waldner was facing were considered serious in nature because the offenses posed a risk to public safety and promoted the unlawful use and distribution of dangerous weapons.
A silencer, which is a device used to suppress the blast sound from a firearm when it is discharged, is a detachable accessory that can be placed on the barrel. It allows a gun carrier to pull the trigger discretely so they can avoid drawing the attention of anyone who may be nearby.
The defense lawyer for Waldner, who is based out of Winnipeg, appeared on video before Judge Dvorak on Friday morning to argue in favour of a minimum sentence for all charges his client was convicted of. He highlighted that Waldner had no criminal history before committing the crimes which led him to court.
Judge Dvorak ultimately agreed with the joint recommendation of Gindin and Sinclair, and sentenced Waldner to three years in prison.
Following the decision, a woman in the packed provincial courtroom screamed “Go f**k yourself! It’s a f*****g joke! There’s criminals walking around on the street and you’re locking up an innocent man!”
For his part, Judge Dvorak replied to the woman screaming by addressing the gallery, “Sometimes things are best ignored in the heat of the moment.”
Curtis Waldner is now in custody for the foreseeable future, and his three-year sentence is expected to be served at the Stony Mountain Institution — a federal penitentiary located in the rural municipality of Rockwood.
» dstein@brandonsun.com
» X: @davidpstein_