Ukrainian national who completed Air Force officer training convicted in ghost gun 3D printing operation
HARRISBURG, Ill. — A 33-year-old Illinois man with a background in military service has been convicted on federal weapons charges after investigators uncovered what prosecutors describe as a sophisticated home-based operation manufacturing untraceable firearms.
Yaroslav Vishnevski, a Ukrainian immigrant who grew up in the United States after arriving as a child, was found guilty by a federal jury in the Southern District of Illinois. The convictions stem from charges including receipt or possession of unregistered short-barreled rifles and shotguns, manufacturing an NFA-regulated weapon without paying required taxes, possession of an unregistered silencer, and possessing a shotgun with an obliterated serial number.
The case began in April 2024 when U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers intercepted a package shipped from China. Inside were two suspected firearm silencers addressed to Vishnevski's residence in southern Illinois. Federal investigators then arranged for Illinois State Police to conduct a controlled delivery.
On May 2, 2024, an undercover ISP agent left the package at Vishnevski's front porch and watched as he retrieved it and brought it inside. When Vishnevski later left the residence without the package, officers conducted a traffic stop. Simultaneously, a SWAT team executed a search warrant at the home and a camper parked on the property.
Inside, authorities discovered what court documents describe as a highly active illegal weapons workshop. Investigators seized three 3D printers and a "Ghost Gunner" desktop CNC machine, equipment commonly used to mill untraceable firearm receivers from unfinished components. The haul included numerous 3D-printed silencers and firearm frames, privately made short-barreled rifles lacking serial numbers, and a modified Glock 19X equipped with an aftermarket stock and vertical foregrip.
Federal law requires short-barreled rifles, short-barreled shotguns, and silencers to be registered in the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record, with manufacturers required to pay a special occupancy tax. Prosecutors said Vishnevski held no such registrations.
"The real world contains nuance, and two things can be true at the same time," said U.S. Attorney Steven D. Weinhoeft in a statement following the convictions. "We staunchly defend the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding Americans, while simultaneously recognizing that machine guns, short-barreled rifles, silencers illegally imported from China, and untraceable ghost guns present obvious dangers."
Vishnevski, who immigrated to the United States from Ukraine at age 7, told Capitol News Illinois he completed U.S. Air Force officer training. He subsequently enrolled at Saint Louis University School of Medicine under orders to serve as an Air Force physician after graduation but left the program early and transferred to the Individual Ready Reserve.
Following his arrest, Vishnevski said a Department of Homeland Security agent questioned him about his views on Ukraine and his associations with its citizens. He told the outlet he believed the government had been surveilling him because of his Ukrainian origin.