Riverina man pleads guilty to firearm offences

Dennis Reeves will face court again in February. Photo: Oliver Jacques.

A Leeton man has pleaded guilty to firearms charges following a police investigation dating back to February 2023.

Dennis Reeves, 64, fronted Griffith Local Court on Thursday (18 January), charged with multiple weapons offences.

Reeves was charged with two counts of not keeping a firearm safe, two counts of possessing an unauthorised firearm, possessing or using a prohibited weapon without a permit, possessing ammunition without a permit, possessing a prohibited drug and supplying cannabis.

He pleaded guilty to all charges in front of Magistrate Trevor Khan and had the previous charge of manufacturing a prohibited firearm without a licence withdrawn.

Officers attached to Murrumbidgee Police District’s Proactive Crime Team commenced an investigation into the illegal manufacture of firearms in the region in February 2023.

Following inquiries, police executed a firearms prohibition search at a home on Wallowa Street in Leeton on 16 March.

During the search, police allegedly located and seized firearms parts for automatic weapons, ammunition, firearms blueprints, as well as cannabis and cannabis plants.

Craig McPhee, 56, was arrested at the scene and taken to Leeton Police Station.

Following further inquiries, police executed a search warrant at a home on Macquarie Street in Wamoon on 21 March.

Police seized a .22 calibre rifle, an airsoft rifle, ammunition, a slingshot, cannabis and cannabis plants. Reeves was arrested at the scene and taken to Leeton Police Station.

Reeves has been on conditional bail since July 2023 and is set to appear again at Griffith Local Court on 23 February.