TULALIP — The father of the boy responsible for the deadly shootings at Marysville Pilchuck High School is facing more weapons charges.
A federal grand injury earlier this week indicted Raymond Fryberg Jr. on five additional counts of unlawful gun possession. Prosecutors allege that Fryberg, 42, had a cache of guns, despite a court order prohibiting him from owning any.
Fryberg initially was indicted in April on a single gun charge, involving the .40-caliber Beretta that his son brought to school Oct. 24. Jaylen Fryberg, 15, opened fire inside one of the school’s cafeterias and killed four students and seriously injured a fifth. The Tulalip boy committed suicide with the same gun.
Prosecutors allege that a 2002 protection order issued by the Tulalip Tribal Court prohibited Raymond Fryberg from buying guns. The Tulalip man is accused of lying on federal paperwork by failing to disclose that he is the subject of a domestic violence protection order.
The superseding indictment lists nine additional guns that Fryberg allegedly possessed illegally between 2013 and March 30, a day before his arrest. The guns include hunting and military-style rifles and a shotgun, according to documents filed in U.S. District Court in Seattle.
The indictment, signed Wednesday, does not say where all the guns were purchased. Fryberg is expected to be arraigned Thursday on the new charges. It is possible the additional counts could delay the trial, now set for Aug. 31.
Fryberg pleaded not guilty to the first charge in April. He was released from custody pending trial on condition that he attend court hearings and stay away from guns.
Several people wrote letters on his behalf after his arrest, saying Fryberg has strong ties to the community and isn’t a risk to flee the area.
Defense attorney John Henry Browne has said there wasn’t an order from the tribal court prohibiting the Tulalip man from owning guns. The issue will be whether Fryberg lied on federal forms, Browne said.
Records showed that neither Raymond Fryberg’s 2002 tribal court domestic violence protection order, nor his violation of the order in 2012, were entered into the Washington Crime Information Center or National Crime Information Center databases.
Presumably if the order or violation had been entered, Fryberg wouldn’t have passed any background checks.
In Snohomish County, tribes can send the orders to the Superior Court Clerk’s Office. The protection order is then sent to the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office to enter the information into the state database.
Since 2000, the State Patrol has been working with Washington tribes to get information about protection orders from their courts into the state and federal criminal databases.
It is not mandatory for tribes to enter their orders. It has only been in recent years that Snohomish County has been filing those orders on behalf of the Tulalip Tribal Court.
Tribes over the years have urged the government to give them access to the databases so they can enter their own orders.
The U.S. Department of Justice plans to host a meeting with tribes next month to try to resolve reporting problems.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463, hefley@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @dianahefley
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