Mobile Man Sentenced to More Than Five Years in Prison for Illegally Possessing an Unregistered Machinegun
MOBILE, AL – A Mobile man was sentenced to 70 months in prison for illegally possessing an unregistered machinegun.
According to court documents, Austin Jaden Jones, 22, was arrested by Mobile police following the execution of a search warrant at an apartment that he and several other people were occupying on June 2, 2022. Before clearing the apartment and conducting the search, officers heard the sounds of a toilet repeatedly flushing, people moving around, and items being broken. When Jones eventually came out of the apartment, he had a severe cut and bleeding on his hand. Inside the apartment, officers seized, among other things, eight pistols (five of which had been reported stolen), scattered ammunition, more than four pounds of marijuana (some of which was floating inside a toilet), several bottles of promethazine syrup, drug paraphernalia, and more than $4,100 in cash.
Two of the stolen pistols, which contained Jones’s blood and DNA material, had been equipped with machinegun-conversion devices, commonly known as Glock “switches.” Jones admitted that he had attempted remove and destroy the switches using a hammer and scissors before police entered the apartment. When equipped with a switch, a semiautomatic Glock pistol becomes a machinegun that will automatically fire more than one shot, without manual reloading, with a single pull of the trigger. It is illegal under federal law for any person to possess such a machinegun without registering it in the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record. Jones admitted that he had not registered the above-referenced machineguns at the time he possessed them.
Senior United States District Judge Callie V.S. Granade ordered Jones to serve a three-year term of supervised release upon his release from prison, during which time he will undergo drug testing and treatment. The court did not impose a fine, but Judge Granade ordered Jones to pay $100 in special assessments.
U.S. Attorney Sean P. Costello of the Southern District of Alabama made the announcement.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Mobile Police Department investigated the case.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Justin Roller prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.
