Admitted 3D-printed gun-maker facing possible 12-year sentence

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 13/11/2023 (711 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A 19-year-old Winnipeg man is facing a possible 12-year prison sentence after admitting to making and trafficking 3D-printed handguns to the city’s criminal underworld.

Jackson Prince pleaded guilty Oct. 31 to one count each of manufacturing and trafficking firearms, possession for the purpose of trafficking firearms and importing prohibited firearm parts.

Prince will return to court Dec. 1, when Crown and defence lawyers are expected to jointly recommend the 12-year sentence, matching the sentence handed to another 3D gun trafficker, Blake Ellison-Crate, last April and touted at the time as the longest of its kind in Canada.

Prince’s March 31 arrest flowed from the same Winnipeg Police Service investigation that landed Ellison-Crate in custody.

In the course of their investigation, police learned Ellison-Crate was “outsourcing” the production of 3D-printed receivers — the base of a handgun in which a slide and trigger are connected — to suppliers he found on Kijiji, Crown attorney Vanessa Gama told court at a hearing last month prior to Prince entering his guilty pleas.

Following Ellison-Crate’s September 2021 arrest, police examined his cellphone and uncovered communications with alleged co-accused Jashon Fernando, “who was pivotal” in trafficking the guns to the criminal underworld, Gama said.

Fernando’s arrest in December 2022 and the subsequent analysis of his cellphone revealed Jackson Prince’s role as another player in the 3D-printed gun trade.

Beginning Oct. 12, 2022, and continuing almost daily until Fernando’s arrest, Prince and Fernando exchanged 7,500 text messages discussing the manufacturing and selling of 3D-printed handguns, as well as the manufacturing of “auto switches” that convert a semi-automatic firearm into a fully automatic one.

“During the course of this illicit business partnership, Prince manufactured and trafficked at least 11 firearms to Jashon Fernando… with full knowledge that they are going to be trafficked by Jashon Fernando to the criminal element,” Gama said.

The text messages revealed Prince sold at least two more firearms to different buyers.

Winnipeg Free Press | Newsletter

Dan Lett | Not for Attribution

Tuesdays

A weekly look at politics close to home and around the world.

Sign up for Dan Lett | Not for Attribution

Sign Up

I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement.

Prince continued to make and traffic firearms on Fernando’s behalf following his arrest, as revealed through text messages to his girlfriend, brother and two friends, Gama said.

Police executed a search warrant at Prince’s Boyd Avenue home last spring and seized 20 Glock-pistol-style receivers, a 3D-printed AR-15-style rifle and a slew of parts meant to be assembled into functioning guns, Winnipeg police said at the time.

“While we can’t say how many firearms Jackson Prince ultimately made and trafficked,” he has admitted to doing so at a “high-volume,” Gama told court last month.

Fernando’s next court date is Dec. 22.

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.