Estimated read time: 1-2 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SALT LAKE CITY — A Duchesne County man has pleaded guilty to a federal firearms charge that was filed after police raided his home searching for drugs and found nearly two dozen guns instead.
Ferron Wyasket, 56, pleaded guilty Friday in U.S. District Court to possession of a firearm by a restricted person for having 12 rifles, nine handguns and two shotguns when authorities raided his home on Oct. 3.
The raid — conducted by FBI agents, Bureau of Indian Affairs police officers and members of the Uintah Basin Narcotics Strike Force — was the culmination of a monthslong investigation into suspected drug trafficking at the house, which sits on Ute tribal land.
Local investigators say they've long suspected Wyasket and his wife, 55-year-old Jolene Wyasket, were selling methamphetamine, but federal court rulings bar them from investigating tribal members accused of committing crimes on tribal land.
Authorities spent more than five hours searching the Wyaskets' house and the surrounding property after serving the warrant in October. Instead of finding meth, they said they found a small amount of marijuana, some drug paraphernalia and 23 firearms.
Wyasket, whose first name is listed as "Faron" and "Ferron" in the federal grand jury indictment, faces up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine when he is sentenced Nov. 12.
State court records show Ferron Wyasket pleaded guilty to attempted arson, a third-degree felony, in September 1993. The 20-year-old felony conviction makes it a crime under state and federal law for Wyasket to possess a firearm.
No federal or state charges have been filed against Jolene Wyasket in connection with the raid on the couple's home.
