Toronto man used COVID-relief money to import Donald Trump-branded gun parts through the mail

A Toronto man who used COVID-relief funds to buy and illegally import gun parts from the southern United States - including a Donald Trump-branded semi-automatic pistol - is now looking at a penitentiary sentence.

Last fall, on the eve of trial, Devon Pelley pleaded guilty to 10 firearm importation and gun possession charges laid after the Canada Border Services Agency and Ontario Provincial Police in October 2020 intercepted packages containing four firearm slides and barrels, sent by the mail from Alpharetta, a city in northern Georgia, to a fictitious person at a budget hotel on Queen Street West in Toronto.

The slides - key parts of a gun's firing mechanism - matched four firearm frames with triggers that police found in a canvas bag in the laundry room in Pelley's Etobicoke home, where eight high-capacity magazines were also located.

The 31-year-old used postal services to commit these crimes," Crown attorney John Rinaldi said Thursday in court as the defendant sat hunched over and sobbing.

Pelley was not licensed to possess or import firearms, the prosecutor told Superior Court Justice Jane Kelly.

But for the intervention of border officials and police, Pelley could have assembled four fully operational handguns that had the potential to end up on the street.

Three of the handguns were Glocks and one was a Glock 19 Gen4 Trump" Edition bearing the name and engraved head of the former U.S. President, a U.S. flag design and the slogan Keep America Great" on the slide.

Pelley, who had no criminal record prior to these charges, told the judge he had no malicious" or nefarious" purpose for wanting handguns and likened it to a car owner's desire to have a rare vehicle parked in a garage.

Pelley said his fascination" with guns kicked in" a few years ago when he visited a firing range. After that, he said he tried to obtain a firearms licence but didn't get a callback."

However, Pelley said he takes full responsibility" for his crimes and acknowledges what he did was wrong.

Rinaldi asked the judge to reject Pelley's explanation that he had once tried to obtain a firearms licence.

The prosecutor asked: Where is the documentation?"

In October 2020, Pelley was receiving government support from Ontario Works and student loans along with money dispersed during the COVID-19 lockdowns - money he used to pay for the gun parts, his lawyer said in court.

The prosecutor is seeking a four-year prison sentence. Defence lawyer Deniz Sarikaya is asking for a three-year term - the mandatory minimum sentence under the Criminal Code for importing a prohibited firearm into Canada.

The judge will decide later this month.

Betsy Powell is a Toronto-based reporter covering crime and courts for the Star. Follow her on Twitter: @powellbetsy