A 24-year-old Seattle man carrying a 3D-printed pistol with no serial number and an extended magazine loaded with 27 bullets has been sentenced to five years in federal prison for dealing crack cocaine in the city's downtown commercial district. Ishmael Malakhi Weddington received his sentence in U.S. District Court, where a judge told him that intentions alone would not be enough to stay out of trouble.
According to KIRO 7 News Seattle, federal law enforcement officers caught Weddington selling drugs in the area, and investigators said he walked repeated laps around a single block on July 28, 2025, wearing a hooded sweatshirt and a crossbody bag. A Justice Department excerpt says Seattle police observed him dealing drugs near Second Avenue and Blanchard Street that day, according to the U.S. Department of Justice, Western District of Washington, though that excerpt is only a partial account of the arrest.
Investigators noted that Weddington's sweatshirt front pocket appeared heavily weighed down by a dense object, the station's report states. They watched as a woman handed him folded paper money, and Weddington handed her a small white rock-like substance in return. Police officers arrested him shortly after the buyer departed.
Ghost Gun and Dealer-Packaged Drugs Found at Arrest
When officers searched Weddington, they found a 9mm firearm hanging out of his sweatshirt pocket. The weapon turned out to be a 3D-printed ghost gun with no serial number, fitted with an extended magazine loaded with 27 bullets, per the same account. Officers also seized dealer-packaged cocaine base, a digital scale and cash from his bag and pockets.
Weddington was charged in federal court on August 7, 2025, and pleaded guilty on August 6, 2026, to possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute and carrying a firearm during a drug trafficking crime. Federal prosecutors requested a five-year prison sentence, arguing that Weddington carried the loaded semi-automatic handgun to further his drug trafficking enterprise and that armed drug distribution placed the surrounding community at risk of significant harm, the outlet reports.
Judge Presses Weddington on Future Conduct
U.S. District Judge Ricardo S. Martinez imposed the sentence, which includes three years of supervised release after Weddington completes his federal prison term. Before handing down the punishment, Martinez questioned Weddington directly about his future behavior.
“I hope you are serious when you say you are intent on making changes for the future,” Martinez said, according to the station's report. Weddington responded, “It's imperative that I never return here again.” Martinez was unmoved by words alone, telling him, “People can say anything they want – but they need to walk the walk.”
Ghost Guns Nationwide
Weddington's case adds to a wider pattern of firearms without serial numbers turning up in criminal investigations. The ATF reported that in 2021 alone, law enforcement recovered approximately 45,240 suspected privately made firearms from potential crime scenes nationwide, including 692 homicides or attempted homicides. In a separate Seattle-area case, the FBI Seattle field office said a 27-year-old Mercer Island resident was sentenced to six years in prison for a drug-trafficking scheme involving a large amount of drugs, illicit proceeds and a stockpile of weapons that included 3D-printed guns — a separate matter from Weddington's case, but one that points to the same category of weapon surfacing in federal drug prosecutions around the region.
Federal firearms penalties attached to drug trafficking crimes stem in part from 18 U.S.C. § 924(c), which the Congressional Research Service describes as requiring one of a series of mandatory minimum prison terms for firearm misconduct connected to a federal crime of violence or drug-trafficking offense, with the exact term depending on factors like the type of firearm involved and how it was used.
