Fort Worth man arrested for manufacturing machine gun conversion devices
FORT WORTH (CBSDFW.COM) — Federal agents arrested a Fort Worth man for allegedly using 3D printers to manufacture illegal machine gun conversion devices, officials said Friday.
Law enforcement agents arrested Xavier Desean Watson, of Fort Worth, Thursday night outside of his apartment complex. He appeared in court the next day.
According to prosecutors, Watson was involved in a ring that sold the devices, commonly known as "switches" (in pistols) or "sears" (in semi-automatic rifles). Three other sellers, Ayoob Wali, 23, Jose Corral Santillan, 19, and Montavion Jones, 20, were all charged earlier this year.
The ATF began investigating the ring earlier this year after Fort Worth police noted a surge in shootings involving conversion devices. Machine guns are under strict regulations and are mostly illegal for civilian possession, but the devices allow legal guns to fire as – or in some cases, more – quickly than even military issue weapons.
Multiple people arrested in connection with these shootings told police that Corral had supplied them with the devices. Corral and Jones, with whom he worked, led agents to Wali, who told them that Watson was the printer.
In March 2022, an undercover agent worked with an informant to contact Jones via Instagram and purchased 10 conversion devices. Jones used a minor who he called his "little buddy" to deliver the switches.
The next month, the agent bought eight more switches. The agent asked Corral if he printed the switches himself, and he said that he did not but know the guy who did. The undercover agent then overheard Corral call someone he called "Whale" - later identified as Wali. Agents later saw Corral meet Wali inside his car and leave with a bulging backpack.
Wali and Corral were arrested on May 3 and Jones was arrested on June 6.
Wali told investigators that he found the switches in a car he bought, but eventually admitted that he was getting them from a man named "Xavier," who was identified later as Watson.
An undercover ATF agent then contacted Watson and arranged to purchase 33 conversion device and a 3D-printed AR-15 style rifle. Watson bragged to the agent that he could produce about 400 switches per day on the two 3D printers he had set up in his apartment.
The agent met Watson at his apartment twice, first on Oct. 18 and then on Oct. 26. Both times, Watson showed the agent how to assemble and insert the conversion devices. On the second visit, Watson showed the agent the 3D printers and told the agent he had mailed the devices by concealing them inside a kid's toy.
ATF officials said that over the course of their investigation, they seized over 650 conversion devices. If Watson is convicted, he faces up to a decade in prison.
Corral pleaded guilty on June 22 to unlawful possession of machine guns and was sentenced on Oct. 7 to 57 months in federal prison. Jones pleaded guilty to the same charge on Aug. 24 and is set to be sentenced on Dec. 13. Wali pleaded guilty on Nov. 16 and is set to be sentenced on Jan. 18, 2023.
