Man whose family asked for end to police curfew checks pleads guilty to possessing restricted firearm

A man whose family petitioned a Winnipeg court to end repeated curfew checks by police on their son as part of his release on bail has pleaded guilty to just one charge for firearms possession.

Daniel Bell, now 23,was accused of offences including manufacturing 3D-printed guns, buttesting revealed all but one of the guns found in his home last year were either antiques or inoperable.

Bell was arrested after police searched his home in June 2023 and found what appeared at first glance to be a "small arsenal" of working firearms, including revolvers, shotguns, rifles, "improvised firing devices,"3D-printed guns and assorted loose gun parts, as well as a 3D printer with a spool of black filament used to make plastic objects, Crown attorney Adam Gingera told court during Bell's sentencing last week.

But once those items were sent to the RCMP's lab for testing, only one of those guns a 3D-printed handgun found inside a closet safe turned out to be operable. The others either couldn't have been used, or were antiques, which are legal to have without a gun licence, Gingera said.

While the working handgun was stored securely and no ammunition for it was found inside the home, court heard Bell didn't have a firearm licence.

He pleaded guilty to unauthorized possession of a restricted firearm, while the rest of his charges were stayed. The guns and related items seized during the search of his home were forfeited.

The search of Bell's home was sparked by a tip from Quebec police that Bell had allegedly bought seven rail kits, which are used to make handguns information that came up during an investigation by police in that provinceinto websites selling gun parts.

When only one handgun was found during the search of Bell's home, investigators believed that meant he had already trafficked the other six, Gingera said. Police also found a receipt showing a purchase from one of the websites Quebec police were investigating.

However, the receipt only showed the amount paid, not the number of items bought.

"And if anybody in the Winnipeg Police Service or the Quebec police had bothered to look at the website from which it was ordered, they would have seen it was for one rail kit," defence lawyer Evan Roitenberg said.

While Bell had a 3D printer in his home, there was no direct evidence he used it to create guns, court heard. Roitenberg described his client as a "creative, curious young man" who worked in the jewelry business and used the printer to make jewelry.

A clinical psychologist's report said Bell also has obsessive compulsive issues, which court heard led to his compulsive collecting of guns.

Judge Malcolm McDonald said while he thought Bell "should go to jail" when he initially heard the facts of the case, "you don't make decisions based on your first view, and you don't make decisions based on the evidence as it may have appeared at a bail hearing, which has become obvious from the history of this particular case."

"Don't collect this stuff ever again," the judge told Bell, who was deemed a low risk to reoffend. "Your curiosity and creativity should be channeled in a different direction."

Family 'ridiculed and criticized'

Prosecutor Gingera told court Bell's family also "suffered a great deal of embarrassment" after a CBC Manitoba article last year detailing his parents' request at a bail hearing for police curfew checks on their son be dropped.

"I don't think it's overstating it to say that they experienced a very public shaming," Gingera said.

"What happened following that hearing, from what I understand, is that the family was ridiculed and criticized heavily in online posts and through online communities."

Over the course of 53 days, court heard, police did a total of 22 checks sometimes more than once a day on Bell at his parents' house, where he was forced to move as part of the bail agreement.

The prosecutor said he didn't blame Winnipeg police for arresting Bell or checking in on him so often, based on what they thought they'd found during their search.

But Bell's lawyer took a different perspective.

"I can appreciate that the police may have thought this case was far more serious," Roitenberg said. "But it smacks of, I dare say, the police being displeased that Mr. Bell was released on bail, and not just the severity of the charges."

Bell was given a conditional sentence order that requires him to continue living with his parents and only leave their home either with at least one of them present, or for work, school or a medical emergency, for a period of two years less a day.

That sentence, which was jointly recommended by Crown and defence, allows him to leave his home another four hours a week with approval.

It also forbids him from having weapons, 3D printers or any materials that can be used to make firearms. He'll also have to continue counselling and treatment as directed, and will have three years of supervised probation after his sentence ends.