Andrea Sibley, the girlfriend of convicted triple murderer Brent Luyster, was sentenced Monday in federal court to one year in prison for purchasing at least nine firearms for Luyster. He allegedly went on to use some of the firearms to assault a former girlfriend.
Sibley, 29, previously pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Tacoma to aiding and abetting a felon in possession of a firearm and making a false statement during the purchase of a firearm, court records show.
None of the nine firearms listed in court records were used in the July 2016 slayings of Luyster’s best friend, Zachary David Thompson, 36; friend Joseph Mark LaMar, 38; and LaMar’s partner, Janell Renee Knight, 43, at LaMar’s home southeast of Woodland. Luyster, 37, also shot Thompson’s partner, Breanne Leigh, then 32, in the face, but she survived. The firearm used in the shooting was never recovered.
Sibley pleaded guilty to rendering criminal assistance in Clark County Superior Court in connection with the murders. She was sentenced in September 2016 to 57 days credit for time served and probation.
Between March 2015 and May 2016 in Clark and Cowlitz counties, Sibley lied on federal forms about her address and purchased three .223 caliber rifles, two .22 caliber rifles, a .40 caliber handgun, 12-gauge shotgun, .308 caliber rifle, and .380 caliber handgun. She then gave the firearms to Luyster, a violent, known white supremacist, court records state.
According to a press release from the Department of Justice, during Monday’s sentencing, U.S. District Judge Benjamin H. Settle said, “Guns are being used to take lives of innocent people at an alarming rate. So it is a serious crime when a person is helping someone who shouldn’t have guns get guns. … (You) had to know someone was going to get hurt by these firearms, but that did not deter you.”
Court records show that the prosecution recommended 18 months in prison. The defense’s sentencing memorandum is sealed.
The firearms were discovered after Luyster and Sibley invited Luyster’s former girlfriend over in May 2016 to their Longview home. He allegedly punched and pistol-whipped his former girlfriend, and fired shots at her as she ran from the home. Sibley witnessed the alleged assault but did not help, according to the government’s sentencing memorandum.
After the woman escaped, Sibley left the home with her son and the other woman’s child. She was stopped by responding Cowlitz County sheriff’s deputies as she was driving away but denied knowing anything about reports of gunshots in the area, the Department of Justice press release states.
Deputies arrived at the home and heard gunshots coming from a wooded area behind the house, where they found Luyster and convinced him to surrender. The deputies found three of the firearms near where Luyster was located and six firearms inside the house, the press release says.
Luyster was arrested, and on June 7, 2016, his bail was reduced, and he was released based in part on a letter Sibley wrote on his behalf. A little more than a month later, on July 15, 2016, Luyster committed the Woodland shooting, according to the press release.
He is facing a federal charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm. That case is still pending. Luyster was also facing charges of assault, harassment and illegal firearm possession in Cowlitz County, but it appears those charges were dismissed April 13, an online records search shows.
Luyster was sentenced in December to three life sentences without the possibility of parole in the triple homicide.
“This defendant lied repeatedly to provide multiple powerful firearms to a man with a horrible history of violence,” U.S. Attorney Annette L. Hayes said in the written statement. “Each time she walked into a gun store and lied, she let herself become part of a terrible crime. We will hold accountable all those who fail to comply with the laws meant to keep guns out of the hands of prohibited and dangerous persons.”
In addition to her prison sentence, Sibley will serve three years of supervised release.
The case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives, FBI and the Cowlitz County Sheriff’s Office. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Bruce Miyake.
