Man pleads to role in 3D-printed guns ring

A Winnipeg man is facing a likely eight-year-prison sentence for his part in a weapons trafficking ring that sold 3D-printed handguns to city drug dealers.

Michael Rivers, 27, pleaded guilty last week to one count of manufacturing and trafficking firearms.

“He was essentially a cog in the wheel that made this enterprise of manufacturing and trafficking firearms successful,” Crown attorney Vanessa Gama told provincial court Judge Sidney Lerner.

Rivers remains in custody and is expected to be sentenced in December following the completion of a pre-sentence report into his background.

Ringleader Blake Ellison-Crate, 28, is serving back-to-back prison sentences totalling 22 years for his lead role in the enterprise and his mother Twyla Ellison, who helped him to continue selling guns from behind bars, is serving a three-year sentence.

The Crown and defence have jointly recommended Rivers be sentenced to eight years in prison. Had Rivers not agreed to the joint recommendation, the Crown would have sought a “substantially” higher sentence, defence lawyer Brett Gladstone told Lerner.

Court heard Ellison-Crate had a secret cellphone while in custody at Stony Mountain Institution and used it to co-ordinate gun deals with his then girlfriend, mother and Rivers.

Ellison-Crate, court heard, used the cellphone to order gun parts online — funded by e-transfers from his mother — and had them delivered to his girlfriend’s address.

“Mr. Rivers’ role in the conspiracy was to… pick up those firearm parts from (the girlfriend’s) residence, Gama said.

Rivers used a 3D printer to assemble the firearms, following instructions he received from Ellison-Crate.

“(Rivers) completed the firearms, and subsequently, with the assistance of Twyla Ellison, trafficked those firearms on to the streets of Winnipeg,” Gama said.

A more detailed accounting of Rivers’ involvement in the crime ring will be provided to court at sentencing.

Ellison-Crate was serving a 12-year sentence in 2023 when it was discovered he was continuing to orchestrate the manufacture and sale of illegal firearms while in custody. A four-month police investigation uncovered the identities of several co-conspirators, including his mother and Rivers.

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At his second sentencing hearing last year, Ellison-Crate claimed he was forced back into illegal arms manufacturing by other inmates and was beaten when he couldn’t keep up with demand.

At her own sentencing last February, Twyla Ellison said she gave her son money to pay off what she initially thought were gambling debts.

Ellison said by the time she knew the full extent of her son’s criminal operation, she “was in too deep.”

In addition to bankrolling the purchase of gun parts, Ellison’s involvement included delivering tools, providing computer access to download files and acting as a go-between with buyers.

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca

Dean Pritchard
Courts reporter

Dean Pritchard is courts reporter for the Free Press. He has covered the justice system since 1999, working for the Brandon Sun and Winnipeg Sun before joining the Free Press in 2019. Read more about Dean.

Every piece of reporting Dean produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.