Department of Justice

HAMMOND- Michael Thedford, 29 years old, of Gary, Indiana, was sentenced by United States District Court Judge James T. Moody on his plea of guilty to possessing an unregistered machinegun, announced United States Attorney Clifford D. Johnson.

Thedford was sentenced to 63 months in prison followed by 3 years of supervised release 

According to documents in the case, on March 21, 2019, law enforcement executed a search warrant at Thedford’s residence and recovered narcotics, five loaded firearms with high capacity magazines, and hundreds of rounds of ammunition.  Also recovered was a Glock firearm that contained a conversion device also known as a “Glock Switch” that converted the semi-automatic firearm to a fully automatic weapon.   This weapon was required to be registered in the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Records in accordance with the National Firearms Act but was not.   

This case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives.  This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Caitlin M. Padula and Kevin Wolff.     

This case was prosecuted as part of the joint federal, state, and local Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) Program, the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts.  PSN is an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime.  Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders work together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in the community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them.  As part of this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime.

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