Manitoba man, 57, given 5-year prison sentence after border officers found ghost-gun-making materials
Robert Ripcik pleaded guilty to a number of firearms-related charges
A Manitoba man has been sentenced to five years in prison after border services and police officers found a number of prohibited firearms and tools used to make untraceable firearms.
Robert Ripcik, 57, was given a five-year prison sentence on Friday, as well as a 10-year firearms prohibition and an order to provide a DNA sample, the Canada Border Services Agency said in a news release.
Ripcik, who lives in Beausejour, Man., has been in custody since he was arrested in March 2024.
He pleaded guilty to a number of charges in Selkirk provincial court, including unauthorized possession of firearms, making false statements, and possessing prohibited devices, illegally imported goods and a prohibited firearm with readily accessible ammunition.
Investigators began to look into Ripcik in April 2023, after CBSA officers in Winnipeg found a shipment of items used to make firearms without serial numbers, or "ghost guns," which are untraceable.
Officers with the CBSA and RCMP searched a rural property near Chatfield, Man., about a year later.
They seized a number of prohibited and non-restricted firearms, as well as a 3D printer, multiple overcapacity magazines, a fully automatic AR-15 pattern rifle, and handgun parts without serial numbers.