A 51-year-old Yelm man has been sentenced to 57 months in prison for trafficking methamphetamine and illegally possessing guns, according to a press release from the U.S. Department of Justice.
Daniel Ague Masters kept a “substantial arsenal” in both an underground bunker and in a garage in Rainier.
At his sentencing hearing, U.S. District Judge Benjamin H. Settle said distributing methamphetamine “is trafficking in poison.”
“Methamphetamine is a dangerous substance … It destroys people’s lives,” Settle said. “When one is engaged in distributing methamphetamine there is harm being done.”
According to court documents, Masters was known in the Thurston County community as a dealer of methamphetamine who amassed a collection of firearms.
Sources told law enforcement that Masters traded meth for stolen firearms, according to the press release.
A search warrant served on Masters’ homes, underground bunker and a detached garage he controlled led to the discovery of 24 firearms and hundreds of rounds of ammunition.
“Many of the firearms had been reported stolen,” the U.S. Department of Justice wrote in a press release. “One of the guns was a submachine gun, and another was a rifle with a high-capacity magazine.”
Masters is prohibited from possessing firearms due to felony convictions in Thurston County for methamphetamine trafficking, bail jumping and attempting to elude.
Masters has been in federal custody since January 2019. He pleaded guilty in August 2019.
The case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigation, the Lewis County Joint Narcotic Enforcement Task Force, the Thurston County Narcotics Task Force and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
