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COURTS Trail man pleads guilty to federal weapons charges in bizarre drugs and guns case Comment By Thomas Moriarty Mail Tribune MailTribune.com By Thomas Moriarty Mail Tribune Posted May. 5, 2015 at 2:45 PM By Thomas Moriarty Mail Tribune Posted May. 5, 2015 at 2:45 PM » Social News A Trail resident FBI agents say once plotted to murder a Medford defense attorney pleaded guilty Monday to a federal charge of being a drug user in possession of a firearm. In return for the guilty plea, an agreement filed in U.S. District Court in Medford stipulates that Gerald Patrick Hook's second charge of felon in possession of a firearm will be dismissed at sentencing. Hook and Shady Cove resident Eric Austin Wheale, Hook's cousin, were indicted in November 2014 after FBI agents, Oregon State Police and Medford Area Drug and Gang Enforcement detectives served search warrants at their homes in July after Hook's son approached the FBI, worried his father was going to murder a local lawyer. According to a search warrant affidavit, Hook's son told Medford FBI agents that his father, a Vietnam War veteran who suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, was angry at Medford lawyer Matthew Fawcett, who had represented a general contractor suing Hook for unpaid work. Hook's son told agents that his father had planned to wait for Fawcett outside his office, disguised as a homeless man, before shooting him with a silenced AK-47 rifle. Hook told his son that he planned to plant cigarette butts and beer bottles he had collected at the crime scene to create false DNA evidence leads for law enforcement, the affidavit said. Hook later told his son, who was wearing an FBI body wire, that he'd decided not to go through with the murder attempt, the affidavit said. Hook's son told police his father, who he said regularly smoked methamphetamine and marijuana, had been stockpiling weapons at his rural Trail-area home, built a barricade under a pool table in his garage and buried metal spikes around his property. Wheale and Hook allegedly had been illegally manufacturing firearm silencers, which they were testing in the garage of Wheale's Shady Cove home, and Hook's son reported seeing explosives components and a sawed-off shotgun in his father's garage. An agent from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives was unable to find any such weapons legally registered to Hook or Wheale in a search of the agency's database, the affidavit said. Court documents show investigators found numerous firearms, suspected silencer parts and marijuana when they searched Hook's home July 1. Hook, who court documents say has a 1975 conviction in Mendocino County, Calif., for possession of a controlled substance, is barred from owning firearms as a felon. Wheale pleaded guilty April 13 to being a felon in possession of a firearm. Both men face up to 10 years in prison and a fine of $250,000 under federal sentencing guidelines. Wheale is scheduled for sentencing July 7, while Hook's sentencing is set for Sept. 23. Reach reporter Thomas Moriarty at 541-776-4471, or by email at [email protected] . Follow him at @ThomasDMoriarty . By Thomas Moriarty Mail Tribune MailTribune.com By Thomas Moriarty Mail Tribune Posted May. 5, 2015 at 2:45 PM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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