Kent, Washington Gun Store Owner And Step-Son Arrested On Drug And Gun Charges
SEATTLE - A Kent, Washington man and his step-son were arrested this morning following their indictment on seven criminal counts related to gun sales and controlled substance distribution. The indictment alleges that Mark E. Bryant, 49, and his step-son Andrew Gagley, 30, illegally distributed Demerol. Bryant is also charged in four different counts with distributing oxycontin, hydrocodone, and morphine on three different occasions in September and October 2012. Bryant is also charged with selling a firearm to a drug user. Gagley is separately charged with selling a firearm to a felon and illegal alien. Both men appeared today in U.S. District Court in Seattle.
Bryant owns Westside Guns and East Valley Auto Rebuild on South 222nd Street in Kent. On multiple occasions Bryant sold guns or drugs to persons working with law enforcement on the property of his Kent gun shop. Gagley also participated in gun and drug sales in and near the business. On October 26, 2012, Gagley allegedly sold a Colt .556 caliber, semi-automatic rifle to a person working with law enforcement. Gagley allegedly made the sale knowing that the person was prohibited from purchasing firearms because the buyer was in the U.S. illegally and was a convicted felon. Just two days before, on October 24, 2012, Bryant illegally sold a Firestar .45 pistol handgun to a person he knew to be a drug user. As a Federal Firearms Licensee, Bryant is required to file paperwork on gun sales and to maintain acquisition records on all firearms received and transferred to other persons.
The arrests today are the culmination of an eight month investigation by the South Sound Task Force. The South Sound Task Force is comprised of the Drug Enforcement Administration, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, the Lakewood Police Department and the Washington State Liquor Control Board; with assistance from U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Office of Air and Marine.
Each of the crimes charged are punishable by up to twenty years in prison and three years of supervised release. The charges contained in the indictment are only allegations. A person is presumed innocent unless and until he or she is proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
