Shoreline man sentenced for harboring a cache of weapons

A 45-year-old Seattle man was sentenced to more than four years in prison for unlawful possession of ammunition.

The Justice Department reported Rustam Yusupov was sentenced Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Seattle.

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According to court records, Seattle Police officers were called to a downtown Seattle hotel room on March 10, 2022, with reports of a distraught man asking the hotel staff for assistance.

When the officers went to the hotel room, they reported that furnishings were in disarray with the mattress moved to block the door.

Police found two firearms in the room. One was a “ghost gun” — a firearm without a serial number.

When police were preparing to leave, a staff member told police they saw weapons in Yusupov’s. They found several high-powered guns and more ammo.

According to the Justice Department’s news release:

When police searched Yusupov’s home, they found the walls smeared with blood and a badly malnourished dog. Testing of the blood smears showed it had come from a dog. The search turned up two inert grenades, a container for 120mm rocket projectiles, hundreds of rounds of assorted ammunition — including 600 rounds of Israel Military Industries 5.56mm caliber ammunition — multiple handgun and rifle magazines — some loaded — various pistol slides; a bulletproof vest with rifle plates, a bolt-action rifle, and assorted gun accessories and parts.

“We will never know what motivated Mr. Yusupov to bring high-powered firearms and sniper rifles to a downtown hotel,” U.S. Attorney Nick Brown said. “This prosecution means his arsenal has been surrendered to police, and he remains prohibited from purchasing more firearms in the future.”

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Before his arrest, Yusupov admitted in a plea deal that he was the subject of a domestic violence protection order, and in March 2020 and May 2021, he was ordered to surrender his guns.