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Sauk Rapids man Jay Olson gets 5 years in prison for making, selling "ghost guns"

How untraceable ghost guns are impacting crime in the Twin Cities
How untraceable ghost guns are impacting crime in the Twin Cities 03:47

SAUK RAPIDS, Minn. -- A Sauk Rapids man has been sentenced to five years in prison for making and selling "ghost guns," the U.S. Attorney's Office in Minnesota announced Thursday.

Jay Olson will also have three years of supervised release after getting out of prison. Olson pleaded guilty to a federal charge of willfully engaging in the business of manufacturing firearms without a license in September.

READ MORE: Ghost gun use in U.S. crimes has risen more than 1,000% since 2017, federal report says

A criminal complaint states Olson made and sold unlicensed and unserialized firearms between the fall of 2021 and the spring of 2022. He was caught thank to the help of a confidential informant, who set up a deal to buy more than a dozen ghost guns, a silencer, high-capacity magazines and an auto sear, which turns semi-automatic weapons fully automatic.

Upon his arrest, authorities seized the items that were part of the deal. They later searched his home, finding "manufacturing tools, various firearm assembly kits, and a Glock firearm assembly diagram."

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