Machinist sentenced for weapons, child porn

A machinist who was caught with a child porn collection while being investigated for manufacturing and selling fully automatic weapons was sentenced to five-and-ahalf years in prison Friday.

Jacob Balan admitted he sold prohibited firearms out of his Hazeldean home to an undercover officer in May 2017. He pleaded guilty to manufacturing and trafficking guns and accessories.

According to an agreed statement of facts in the case, Alberta Law Enforcement Response Teams (ALERT) investigators were tipped off by a confidential informant that Balan was involved in building illegal firearms.

An undercover officer began a rapport with Balan in January 2017. Eventually, the officer brought Balan a Ruger 10/22 rifle that Balan modified for him.

In May 2017, Balan sold the undercover officer two prohibited firearms that were manufactured — a semi-automatic Beretta pistol and a fully automatic Suomi submachine-gun — and two fully automatic homemade Mac-11 copy .32-calibre firearms that Balan built himself. He also sold the officer prohibited suppressors and oversized magazines for the guns.

Balan, who was not licensed to possess prohibited firearms, was arrested on Aug. 17, 2017, and admitted to manufacturing and trafficking weapons to the undercover officer. He also admitted he built four other Mac-11 copies, but he did not say who he sold them to. Those guns remain at large.

Crown prosecutor Adam Garrett told provincial court Judge D’Arcy DePoe that he couldn’t find other similar cases like this in Canada, and that the only purpose for these types of weapons is to kill people.

Balan also pleaded guilty to possessing a collection of child pornography that turned up during the investigation into the weapons offences. Prosecutor Tara Hayes told court that nearly 1,500 images and four videos were seized from Balan. Hayes said the collection featured children as young as six.

A joint submission on sentencing was presented to DePoe, who accepted it. Balan’s one-year sentence for possession of child pornography was stacked onto the sentences for convictions on the weapons charges, bringing his total sentence to five-and-a-half years.