Brandon man guilty in cyberattack, ghost gun case

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This article was published 17/11/2022 (771 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Brandon man has pleaded guilty to building 3D-printed handguns and participating in a prolonged cyberattack campaign in Canada and the United States.

Dayne Parrott-Jones, 18, appeared in court remotely from the Brandon Correctional Centre on Thursday.

He admitted to manufacturing a restricted weapon, possessing a restricted firearm with accessible ammunition, drug possession and mischief to data.

Parrott-Jones was arrested in March in a joint operation conducted by Brandon Police Service and a branch of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The FBI had tracked his involvement in a series of distributed denial-of-service attacks, which involve sending an abundance of web traffic to a targeted system that causes it to become unreachable and eventually shut down.

In this case, Parrott-Jones and a second individual living in Texas were paid to conduct cyberattacks between Aug. 16, 2019 and Nov. 18, 2021.

The FBI informed Brandon police in April 2021 that one of the co-conspirators lived in the city. On March 8, Brandon officers executed a search warrant at a Pacific Avenue residence where Parrott-Jones lived.

Police discovered a large quantity of cannabis in the residence alongside a 3D printer that was actively producing what officers believed to be the lower receiver of a handgun.

Police searched the rest of the residence after obtaining a second search warrant. That search resulted in the seizure of a completed firearm — which was loaded with a high-capacity magazine, most of which had been created with a 3D printer — alongside a large collection of ammunition and gun parts that had yet to be assembled.

“These guns are commonly referred to as ‘ghost guns,’” BPS Staff Sgt. Brian Partridge said on March 9. “None of them have serial numbers and they’ve become a very big problem both in Canada and the United States. We’re glad that we could intervene at this time.”

Police also discovered four grams of cocaine and four pounds of illicit cannabis.

Parrot-Jones was released, but was taken into custody on June 10 when he broke his bail conditions by living in a home that had internet access and possessing a phone.

On Thursday, he also pleaded guilty to two breach charges as well as other offences dating back to his youth.

He is scheduled to return to court Dec. 19.

— Brandon Sun