JACKSONVILLE, FL – A federal jury delivered guilty verdicts today to Kristopher Justinboyer Ervin (43, Orange Park) and Matthew Raymond Hoover (39, Wisconsin) for their roles in a conspiracy to distribute unregistered machinegun conversion devices. The pair peddled these illegal parts, deceptively marketed as “Auto Key Cards,” across state lines, turning ordinary rifles into fully automatic weapons.
The scheme unraveled after Ervin’s bank flagged suspicious activity. Employees grew concerned that Ervin was trafficking in machinegun components, prompting a call to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). What followed was an investigation revealing a sophisticated online operation. Ervin wasn’t selling gun parts directly; he was selling “pen holders,” “novelties,” and “political sculptures” – metal cards etched with “lightning links,” easily converted into illegal automatic weapon components.
ATF agents and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) surveilled Ervin, observing him shipping dozens of packages from an Orange Park post office, each stuffed with these unregistered conversion devices. A simple Dremel rotary tool and approximately 40 minutes were all that was needed to extract the lightning link from the “Auto Key Card” and transform a standard AR-15 into a fully automatic machinegun, according to trial evidence.
Hoover, operating a YouTube channel called CRS Firearms, acted as the marketing arm of the operation. His videos brazenly advertised the Auto Key Cards, encouraging viewers to bypass the law with “discreet ordering” and detailing how to quickly install and discard the illegal components. “Laws only work if we follow them,” Hoover allegedly stated, adding instructions to “drop it in your receiver, scratch your full auto itch, throw it away when you’re done” and “no one’s the wiser.” The videos demonstrably boosted Ervin’s sales, leading to over 2,000 Auto Key Cards sold in just a few months.
Testimony revealed that multiple purchasers admitted to learning about the Auto Key Cards through Hoover’s YouTube channel and explicitly intended to use them to illegally modify their firearms. Ervin, in turn, compensated Hoover for his promotional efforts with cash sent through the mail and, on one occasion, a luxury Louis Vuitton purse. A search of Ervin’s home in March 2021 uncovered Auto Key Cards containing etchings for over 1,500 lightning links.
Ervin now faces a potential sentence of up to 110 years in federal prison, convicted of conspiracy to transfer unregistered machinegun conversion devices, 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. Hoover, convicted of four counts of transferring unregistered machinegun conversion devices, faces a maximum of 45 years behind bars. Both men are currently in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service, with sentencing scheduled for July 31, 2023.
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