Gregory Austin Eward, Unregistered Firearm Silencers, Florida 2022

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Local Man Pleads Guilty to Conspiracy to Possess and Transfer Unregistered Firearm Silencers

Gregory Austin Eward (25, Live Oak), the CEO of Eward Research Inc., pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess and transfer unregistered firearm silencers. Eward faces a maximum penalty of five years in federal prison. A sentencing date has not yet been set.

According to the plea agreement, Eward and his father, Dustin Eward, operated Eward Research Inc., a company that marketed and sold firearm silencers over the internet. The company’s website, ewardresearch.com, advertised the sale of combinations of parts designed and intended for use in assembling firearm silencers. Sales could be completed with either cash or cryptocurrency.

On January and February 2022, an undercover ATF Special Agent ordered three silencers from Eward Research Inc., paying for them with cryptocurrency. Surveillance video from a post office showed Gregory Eward mailing one of the parcels containing silencers that the agent eventually received. The devices were examined by an ATF Firearms Enforcement Officer and firearms expert who concluded that the devices were consistent in design and construction with firearms silencers.

At the time of his arrest, on May 9, 2022, Gregory Eward had a Glock-type handgun on the back seat of the car. The pistol had no serial number and was loaded. Agents also located three rifle bump-stocks in the car’s open trunk. These devices also had no serial numbers.

During an interview after his arrest, Gregory Eward acknowledged that he was the CEO of Eward Research and that he and his father worked for the company. He volunteered that his products look like silencers, but he denied that he was selling these products as silencers or silencer kits. He later acknowledged that their products were similar to silencers, and they would operate as silencers if a hole was drilled through them.

On May 10, 2022, FBI and ATF Special Agents executed a search warrant at the Ewards’ home. They located approximately 105 firearms, over 12,000 rounds of ammunition, and 35 assembled firearms silencers. There was also a sufficient quantity of parts, which were designed or redesigned, and intended for use in assembling or fabricating more than 300 additional firearm silencers.

Gregory Austin Eward, 25, of Live Oak, Florida, faces a maximum penalty of five years in federal prison for conspiracy to possess and transfer unregistered firearm silencers. The plea agreement was made on an exact date unspecified in the article.