Federal Agents, in partnership with the Auburn Police Department, were in Auburn to execute a federal arrest warrant.
FBI Seattle Division Public Affairs Special Agent Shelley Gryz confirmed that “court-authorized law enforcement activity involving the FBI and Auburn Police Department took place in the vicinity of 28th and M Streets in Auburn, WA on June 26th. Valley SWAT assisted with a second location about a mile away on B Street.”
“A federal arrest warrant for Jason Smith was executed by Auburn PD the following day on June 27th,” Gryz continued, “and [the] FBI took Smith into custody on June 28th.”
According to the filed complaint (read the full complaint), probable cause was found to arrest Smith for Felon in Possession of Ammunition, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Sections 922(g)( l ):
“Title 18, United States Code, Section 922(g) makes it unlawful for certain classes of individuals to ship, transport, possess or receive any firearm or ammunition with the required interstate commerce nexus. Those prohibited classes of persons are: convicted felons (§ 922(g)(1))…”
Establishing Probable Cause for Arrest
In December 2018 Valley SWAT executed a search warrant at a property Smith was known to reside. During the search, it was found that the travel trailer Smith and his girlfriend were living in, on the property, was reported stolen in March 2015. Smith informed investigators he had purchased the trailer on OfferUp.
“Inside the stolen trailer,” states the complaint, “was a large flat-screen television that was turned on and there were numerous surveillance camera pictures of the property on the television. Next to the television, there was a digital scale with a white, [powdery] substance on the scale that was field-tested and produced a presumptive positive result for methamphetamine. Below the surveillance system was a black safe. Inside the safe were two pill bottles, a digital scale, two explosive devices with a fuse.”
The complaint states that one of the prescription bottles had Smith’s name on it and was for hydrocodone. The complaint also details that “the two explosive devices were both taped with black electrical tape and had a short fuse coming out of the devices. The explosive devices were secured by an FBI Special Agent Bomb Technician.”
Ammunition Inside the Trailer
Also found inside the stolen trailer during APD’s search was A gray storage container. According to the complaint, the container “contained a large amount of ammunition and rifle magazines, including 28 fourteen AR 15 style magazines loaded with live ammunition. One of the magazines was a high capacity .22 caliber drum magazine loaded with .22 caliber rounds of live ammunition. In the bottom of the grey container were various rounds of live ammunition, including 9mm caliber, .223 caliber, .38 caliber, and .45 caliber. One of these rounds of live ammunition was a Federal .38 caliber Special.”
An agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) reviewed the Federal .38 caliber Special round. This agent’s training allowed them to identify this ammunition as having been manufactured outside of the State of Washington.
In 2006 Jason Smith was convicted of Possession of Methamphetamine with Intent to Distribute and Felon in Possession of a Firearm and was sentenced to 84 months. It is because of these past convictions that Smith was arrested by complaint and charged with being a felon in possession of ammunition.
On Monday a joint motion was filed(read the full motion), requesting time to indict be extended by 60-days. Considering the points of the motion, the court granted the motion. If granted, the new indictment deadline would be September 26, 2019.
FBI in Auburn in July, Too
Gryz confirmed that on July 10th “the FBI was engaged in court-authorized law enforcement activity [at a home on 110th Pl SE]. The investigation is ongoing, so I cannot provide any additional information. There is no threat to public safety at this time.”
According to Gryz, these two incidents are not connected.
The Auburn Examiner investigated these incidents by receiving tips from readers. If you see something or hear of something you think should be investigated, be sure to email or text us: tips@auburnexaminer.com or 253-
[yikes-mailchimp form=”1″]
I’m pretty sure most ammunition is made somewhere else. My guess would be the federal wherehouse. Where the CIVILIAN OWNED COMPANY federal is. They make bullets. Not quite sure why this article was written like that. Federal 38 caliber special…. just a cheap bullet for a 38 pistol. Reason the bring in the fbi, probably not. They probably were brought in because the Auburn pd is incompetent.
Hi Paul,
Thank you for your comment. Why the FBI (and ATF) was involved was not speculation on the part of the Auburn Examiner. We received information directly from the FBI and pulled further information from official documents. The full documents are linked in the article if you would like to read them.
-The AE Team
Sure sounds like they planted the one bullet that was made out of state. How stupid. Why would someone have all this different ammo and out of all that different ammo just happened to pick up one bullet to make it federal? Cops r so crooked and foul around here. They do whatever they want, commit more felony crimes then 95% of all criminals, and laugh cuz they get away with it. This is a railroad corrupt case cuz they wasted all this time and money on trying to come up with anything to bust this guy and failed. Where r all the guns for all this ammo? Where’s all the drugs that they want to act like he had? No mention of any of that, just one special bullet? Loser cops. They r just trying to ruin another person’s life cuz they suck at their jobs. Why isn’t anybody policing the police? They r the real criminals and danger to society.
Is there an update to what’s going on with this case ?
We are working on a series of updates and will endeavour to include this case in it.
When
Jason Lee Smith’s case has moved to trial. We are pulling documents now. The update should be up today or tomorrow.
I am Jason Smith you want to know the update?
Jason –
If you’d like to email us at contact@auburnexaminer.com we’d be happy listen.