A Seattle man, arrested in 2022 in Kent, received a 10-year prison sentence Tuesday, May 16 for possession of a so-called ghost gun and drugs in a stolen vehicle.
Jade B. Irey, 32, was arrested March 24, 2022 at an auto parts store in Kent. Irey pleaded guilty in December 2022 to unlawful possession of a machine gun, possession of controlled substances with intent to distribute and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
At the sentencing hearing in Seattle, U.S. District Judge James L. Robart said, Irey had been “a one-person crime wave,” according to a May 16 U.S. Department of Justice news release.
Robart noted that Irey had 700 fentanyl pills and the machine gun, making the case “one of the most serious I’ve seen in recent history.”
“Unregistered, fully automatic, and with an extended magazine, this weapon and others like it are designed for one thing: to kill,” said U.S. Attorney Nick Brown. “We are intent on using all the tools Congress has given us to combat possession of such illegal weapons and the damage they do in our communities.”
According to records in the case, Irey was under investigation for a December 2021 burglary in Bellevue, where he apparently dropped his cellphone while leaving the scene. The resident turned the cellphone over to police.
Bellevue Police put Irey under surveillance, following him and an associate from his residence in the Magnolia neighborhood of Seattle to stops throughout the area. When a records check indicated the vehicle Irey was driving was stolen, police arrested Irey inside an auto parts store in Kent.
A search of the car turned up the ghost gun and a pouch containing methamphetamine, black tar heroin, and 700 suspected fentanyl pills. Using court authorized search warrants, investigators reviewed information on Irey’s electronic devices detailing his drug sales and ownership of the firearm.
Irey is also charged in state court for a number of crimes including burglary, identity theft, car theft and hit and run. The plea and sentencing in this case is part of a global resolution and the state sentences are expected to run concurrent with the 10-year federal sentence.
The case was investigated by the Bellevue Police Department Special Operations Unit with assistance from Homeland Security Investigations.
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