A Wisconsin and Florida man were convicted of conspiring to transfer unregistered machine gun conversion devices disguised as “pen holders.”
Kristopher Justinboyer Ervin, 43, Orange Park, Florida, and Matthew Raymond Hoover, 39, of Wisconsin were found guilty of conspiring to transfer unregistered machinegun conversion devices that they called “Auto Key Cards.”
Additionally, Ervin was convicted of seven counts of transferring unregistered machinegun conversion devices, three counts of possessing unregistered machinegun conversion devices, and one count of structuring cash transactions to avoid currency transaction reporting requirements.
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Hoover was also convicted of four counts of transferring unregistered machinegun conversion devices. Ervin faces a maximum penalty of 110 years in federal prison, and Hoover faces a maximum penalty of 45 years in federal prison.
The sentencing hearing is scheduled for July 31, 2023. Ervin was first charged on March 2, 2021, and Hoover on January 26, 2022. Both Ervin and Hoover have been remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service.
According to testimony and evidence presented at trial, in January 2021, Ervin’s bank contacted the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) to report that employees believed Ervin was trafficking in machinegun conversion devices.
A subsequent investigation revealed that Ervin was running an online business selling machinegun conversion devices, known as lightning links, etched into metal cards, which he called Auto Key Cards.
Ervin described the Auto Key Card as a “pen holder,” a “novelty,” and a “political sculpture.”
A lightning link can be dropped into an otherwise legal AR-15-type firearm and converted into a fully automatic machine gun.
In February 2021, federal agents from ATF and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) surveilled Ervin. They observed him dropping off dozens of packages at an Orange Park, Florida post office, each of which was determined to contain unregistered machinegun conversion devices.
The ATF examined the Auto Key Cards, and a firearms enforcement officer removed the pieces of a lightning link from an Auto Key Card using a common Dremel rotary tool in about 40 minutes.
When the firearms enforcement officer placed the two pieces of the lightning link into an AR-15 type firearm, it converted the semi-automatic firearm to be fully automatic.
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Hoover operated a YouTube channel called CRS Firearms on which he advertised Auto Key Cards. In his videos, Hoover stated that “laws only work if we follow them” and encouraged his viewers to use “discreet ordering” by mail to purchase Auto Key Cards. Hoover stated that his viewers could cut a lightning link out of the Auto Key Card, “drop it in your receiver, scratch your full auto itch, throw it away when you’re done” and “no one’s the wiser.”
Hoover’s videos advertising the Auto Key Card led to a substantial increase in Ervin’s sales. Ervin sold more than 2,000 Auto Key Cards in only a few months. Multiple purchasers of the Auto Key Card testified at trial that they had learned about it from Hoover’s videos and purchased the Auto Key Card intending to use it to convert their AR-15-type weapons into machine guns.
Ervin compensated Hoover for his advertisements by sending cash through the mail and, on one occasion, a Louis Vuitton purse.
In March 2021, federal agents executed a search warrant at Ervin’s home and recovered Auto Key Cards containing etchings for more than 1,500 lightning links.
This case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation.
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