West Kelowna reality TV star jailed for using 3D printer to make handguns

When police walked into Vladimir Pleskot's West Kelowna apartment they discovered a 3D printer churning out a handgun.

The search uncovered half a dozen 3D-printed handguns in various stages of production, ammunition and a plan to sell the weapons online.

The West Kelowna resident and former Ice Road Tuckers personality appeared in a Kelowna courtroom, Sept. 13, and pleaded guilty to one charge of manufacturing a restricted firearm.

The court heard how the 48-year-old had bought a 3D printer in the fall of 2021 and began making handguns.

Crown prosecutor Jason Hatherly said the printer Pleskot had wasn't capable of producing a fully-formed handgun and he needed a metal part called a firearm frame rail.

Pleskot bought the firearm frame rails from businesses and individuals in the U.S., who intentionally mislabelled the parcels and sent them to Pleskot.

However, Canada Border Services Agency clocked one of the packages and began a criminal investigation.

The investigation accumulated with a warrant being issued and police searched Pleskot's West Kelowna apartment in April 2022.

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Along with the gun sitting in the printer, police also searched his vehicle and a storage locker and unearthed nine-millimetre ammunition, a money-counting machine, bear spray and a digital scale.

Two of the seven weapons police seized were capable of firing live rounds.

Police found evidence that Pleskot was trying to sell the guns, along with a video of him firing them.

While Pleskot would have bought the money counting machine for a reason, there was no mention in court of whether he'd managed to sell any of the 3D-printed guns or how much money, if any, he'd made. There was also no mention of why he had digital scales and bear spray.

The court heard that Pleskot's wife had terminal cancer at the time and had later died.

"He lost sight of the legality of what he was doing when his wife became ill," defence lawyer West Pryde said.

The defence lawyer said Pleskot was born in the former Czechoslovakia and moved to Canada in 2004 to work as a long-haul trucker in Winnipeg.

He'd started his own trucking company and in 2009 became a regular on the popular reality TV show Ice Road Truckers. He'd been in four seasons of the show.

Pleskot later moved to Kelowna and at the time of his arrest was working as an instructor training newbie trucker drivers.

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He'd also registered a legitimate company within the firearm business.

"Had his wife not become sick he very likely would have stuck with that plan," his lawyer said.

Lawyers said Pleskot has no prior criminal record and in a joint submission asked for three years in jail – the legal mandatory minimum sentence.

"I don't want to make any excuse for what I did, I broke the law," Pleskot told the court. "I was not in a good state of mind, my wife was dying but that is no excuse.

"I just want to say that I am very regretful to my friends and my family… I am deeply sorry… I am very ashamed and very regretful for breaking the rules," he said.

In handing down the three-year jail sentence BC Provincial Court Judge Paul Dohn said Pleskot was a good candidate for parole, which he'll be able to apply for after one year.

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