Man arrested with illegal firearms in Irvine enters guilty pleas, avoids trial

By Peggy Revell on February 8, 2018.

prevell@medicinehatnews.com @MHNprevell

Guilty pleas were entered Thursday by a man arrested in April 2017 after police seized a cache of firearms at a residence in Irvine.

While a two-day trial was originally set to run this week, Denver Ryan Ailsby instead entered guilty pleas to four out of the nine charges he faces — one count of unsafe storage of a firearm, two counts of unauthorized possession of a prohibited firearm and one count of possessing firearms contrary to a court order.

An agreed statement of facts was entered as an exhibit to the court, but not officially read in. A presentencing report was ordered, with the matters adjourned until May 16 at 1 p.m. for sentencing.

Ailsby was arrested on April 13, 2017, after Medicine Hat police and Redcliff RCMP executed a search warrant for a residence in Irvine, and located and seized 10 firearms, three of which were prohibited due to modification of barrel length. Also seized were four homemade silencers, prohibited magazines, bear spray, 20 grams of marijuana and several boxes and storage containers of ammunition.

Ailsby’s co-accused, Brandalyn Brandham, was sentenced on Jan. 11 after entering a guilty plea to one count of careless storage of a firearm.

During Brandham’s sentencing, it was heard that a loss prevention officer at the local Canadian Tire store saw Brandham purchase a shotgun and ammunition on March 31. While Brandham was legally allowed to make the purchase, police were contacted because she was making the purchase while in the presence of two men, including Ailsby, who were prohibited from having firearms.

Police obtained a public safety warrant for the Irvine residence Brandham and Ailsby were living in, and multiple firearms were seized. Six of the guns were not properly locked up, while three guns were in a safe, but the safe was not locked.

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