10 hours Ago By Dean Pritchard
A Winnipeg mother says she was just trying to protect her son from harm when she helped him traffic illegal firearms from behind prison walls to the criminal underworld. Read this article for free: Already have an account? To continue reading, please subscribe: * A Winnipeg mother says she was just trying to protect her son from harm when she helped him traffic illegal firearms from behind prison walls to the criminal underworld. Read unlimited articles for free today: Already have an account? A Winnipeg mother says she was just trying to protect her son from harm when she helped him traffic illegal firearms from behind prison walls to the criminal underworld.
“As much as I love my son, he is stupid as hell,” Twyla Ellison told a judge Friday before being sentenced to three years in prison for manufacturing and trafficking firearms. Ellison’s son, 27-year-old Blake Ellison-Crate, is serving combined prison sentences totalling 22 years for his lead role in manufacturing and selling illegal 3D-printed handguns to city drug dealers. Ellison-Crate was serving a 12-year sentence in 2023 when it was discovered he was continuing to orchestrate the manufacture and sale of illegal firearms while in custody.
A four-month police investigation uncovered the identities of several co-conspirators, including his mother. At his second sentencing hearing last year, Ellison-Crate claimed he was forced back into illegal arms manufacturing by other inmates and was beaten when he couldn’t keep up with demand. Court heard Friday that Ellison-Crate used a concealed cellphone to communicate with Michael Rivers, a co-accused outside of prison.
He told him how to make 3D-printed firearms and arranged to sell them through his prison network. Twyla Ellison gave her son “financial assistance,” initially believing the money was for gambling debts, but “later became fully aware of the firearms manufacturing and trafficking scheme and became directly involved in the endeavour,” court was told. Ellison’s involvement included bankrolling the purchase of gun parts, delivering tools, providing computer access to download 3D printer files and acting as a go-between with buyers.
Following her arrest, Ellison scoffed at allegations she was enmeshed in the trafficking operation, telling investigators: “I’m a grandma who makes cookies and traffics guns?” “That’s exactly what she is,” Crown attorney Ari Millo told provincial court Judge Michael Clark. “She’s a mother, she’s a grandmother and she played a key and ongoing role in facilitating the manufacture and transfer of easily concealable handguns to criminals.” Ellison and her son had a “very close relationship” that Ellison sometimes described as “co-dependant,” said defence lawyer Keenan Fonseca.
While in prison, Ellison-Crate called his mother hundreds of times, telling her about the abuse he had suffered and the pressure he was under to continue making the guns, Fonseca said. “He was persistent with his requests, and it was clear he had a strong level of influence over his mother,” Fonseca said. “She was a caring mother.
This was her son. He was her rock..
. and she didn’t know what other way to help him.” Ellison said by the time she knew the full extent of her son’s criminal operation, she “was in too deep.
” “I have done something that went against my beliefs and helped someone commit a crime,” she said. “I’ve come to realize I’m not a superhero and I can’t help my son anymore.” Ellison had a hand in buying parts for 14 Glock handguns and the trafficking of at least five firearms, Millo said.
Four more handguns have not been recovered. “Each of those firearms represents a potential time bomb,” Millo said. “The real impact of Ms.
Ellison’s crimes is yet to be determined given the fact that there are still a number of firearms unaccounted for.” Ellison struggled with drug addiction in the past and has been unable to find work since she was arrested. She lost her job managing an apartment block.
The Crown and defence jointly recommended the three-year sentence, the minimum allowed under the law, noting Ellison did not personally profit from her crimes, had no prior criminal record and pleaded guilty. A parent’s desire to help a child in need “in most respects is a noble thing to do,” Clark told Ellison. “(But) the way to help your son was not to continue the operation that put guns in the hands of drug dealers and murderers.
“It took Ms. Ellison a while..
. to realize that wasn’t the way to do it and you are now going to pay the price for it,” Clark said. Michael Rivers remains before the court.
The charges against him have not been proven and he is considered innocent. dean.pritchard@freepress.
mb.ca Dean Pritchard is courts reporter for the . He has covered the justice system since 1999, working for the and before joining the in 2019.
. Every piece of reporting Dean produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the ‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about , and .
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Thank you for your support. Dean Pritchard is courts reporter for the . He has covered the justice system since 1999, working for the and before joining the in 2019.
. Every piece of reporting Dean produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the ‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about , and .
Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider . Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism.
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