Department of Justice

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

Turner was sentenced to 27 months in prison followed by 2 years of supervised release

According to documents in the case, on May 27, 2021, Turner was found passed out in his car which was stopped in the middle of the street straddling the yellow center line in Porter, Indiana. At that time, Turner illegally possessed a pistol on his lap that had a machinegun conversion device attached to it, making it capable of firing multiple shots with a single pull of the trigger. This firearm was not registered to him in the National Firearm Registration and Transfer record, making his possession of it illegal.

This case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Porter Police Department, the Burns Harbor Police Department, and the Chesterton Police Department. This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Kevin F. Wolff.

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the Department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.