ORANGE PARK, Fla. — An Orange Park man faces a firearms charge with a possible 10-year prison sentence after federal agents reported finding 1,552 devices in his home that could turn semiautomatic rifles into machine guns.
Kristopher J. Ervin, 40, was arrested March 2 and indicted Thursday on a charge of possessing an unregistered machine-gun conversion device.
A court filing March 3 said Ervin was involved with a website that sold metal devices shaped similar to credit cards that can make an AR-15 rifle fire automatically like a machine gun. The products were built to different sizes, such as a business bard and a pen holder, priced from $80 to $139.
According to the filing, a YouTube video called the devices “the parts ATF wishes never existed,” and an online message that agents attributed to Ervin encouraged people to buy the “AR related” devices now in case they went off the market.
“It only gets worse from here. Get ready. Get it and save it in your wallet,” the message advised, according to the complaint.
Machine guns have to be registered with the federal government and are heavily regulated. Semiautomatic rifles are widely sold and used.
Agents from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives bought some of the devices and also used a search warrant to open packages Ervin had taken to the post office containing the devices, the complaint said.
Ervin has faced a judge since his arrest and was ordered held until a detention hearing can continue Monday at Jacksonville’s federal courthouse, court records show.
A federal public defender has been appointed to represent Ervin, but no plea has been entered yet. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Wednesday.
