Metal worker made silencers for guns

A metal fabricator hired to make large exhaust fans at a Spokane company spent some of his time making illegal firearm silencers which he claimed to be selling on the Spokane Indian Reservation.

Michael G. Teasley, a former employee of Unifire Manufacturing, also told fellow employees he would “have to shoot the cop” if a police officer questioned him about having a .50-caliber handgun that he couldn’t legally possess because of a prior first-degree assault conviction, court records say.

Teasley was sentenced to 46 months in federal prison on Tuesday after earlier pleading guilty to manufacturing an unregistered firearm and being a felon in possession of ammunition. Two other firearms charges against him were dismissed as part of the plea bargain.

U.S. District Court Judge Fred Van Sickle also ordered the 51-year-old defendant to complete three years of court supervision upon his release from prison and undergo substance abuse evaluation.

Teasley still faces unresolved drug paraphernalia charges in Spokane County Superior Court. They include possession of syringes and drug pipes, found with traces of heroin and methamphetamine, the judge said after reading a background report on the defendant.

“I am concerned here with deterrence and public safety,” the judge said, imposing the sentence that was slightly longer than the 41 months recommended by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jared Kimball and Assistant Federal Defender Tina Hunt.

“I don’t know what lawful purpose a silencer serves,” the judge said. Later he told the veteran welder and metal fabricator, “You have the skills and ability, clearly, to make a living lawfully.”

Spokane Police Detective Jeff Harvey and agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives found seven operable silencers at Teasley’s home in East Spokane early last year, and he later admitted making them while employed at Unifire Manufacturing, according to court documents.

Teasley was fired from that metal fabricating job after telling a fellow employee he was “making silencers and selling them on the Spokane Indian Reservation for $400 a piece,” his written plea agreement says.

After his arrest, Teasley refused to identify who purchased the silencers from him, the federal prosecutor said.

A federal three-count indictment against Teasley was returned March 6. He has been in custody since January 2006, when the Spokane Police detective, following a tip, went to Teasley’s home at 1513 E. First. When the detective asked Teasley if he possessed a .50-caliber “Desert Eagle” handgun, he said he had recently sold the weapon at a gun show for $1,400, and knew he couldn’t legally possess firearms.

Teasley later consented to the detective’s request to look through cardboard boxes, where the seven silencers were found, along with knife blades, motorcycle parts and other metal working items. ATF agents subsequently got a federal search warrant to seize the silencers.

Teasley claimed the round cylinders “were designed for use as filtering devices for water and gasoline,” court documents say, but ATF firearms experts later determined they were operable silencers that can’t be legally made or possessed.

He was convicted of first-degree assault in 1993 and sentenced to five years in state prison after shooting his nephew during an argument. He also was convicted in 1983 of assault.

Asked to address the court before sentencing, Teasley said, “I’ve come to realize it was a great mistake on my behalf.”