Lewis County Man Facing Federal Charges For Ghost Gun Investigation—Classic Hits 100.7 KLOG News

A Lewis County man is facing federal charges after he led police on a high-speed chase in Thurston County and two ghost guns were recovered.

47-year-old Michael Draper of Cinebar appeared yesterday in the U.S. District Court in Tacoma on charges of unlawfully possessing firearms. This comes as Draper is already prohibited from owning guns due to prior criminal convictions involving firearms.

According to case records, Draper was under investigation for theft from his former employer, the Cowlitz Indian Tribe. On January 22, Thurston County Sheriff’s Office deputies pursued his truck as he drove recklessly. Eventually, he crashed through a fence and ran from the scene; he was found by surveillance aircraft and taken into custody.

After that, investigators learned that Draper was being investigated by the Cowlitz Tribe for fraudulent purchases. Some of those purchases were found in the back of his crashed truck. Also in the truck were two polymer firearms; they are handguns made in the style of an AR-style rifle. Both were “ghost guns,” meaning they had no serial numbers and were made using a 3D printer. The truck also contained drug paraphernalia.