CAPE GIRARDEAU, MO – Lamad Cross, 24, of Kennett, Missouri, is facing a potential 15-year prison sentence after admitting to peddling illegal machine gun conversion devices across the state. The convicted felon pleaded guilty Friday to one felony charge of unlawful transfer of a machine gun in U.S. District Court.
The case unraveled after Cape Girardeau police recovered a Glock pistol rigged with a “switch” – a device that transforms a semi-automatic weapon into a fully automatic one – on January 21, 2022. Investigators traced the weapon back to an associate who confessed to buying it for Cross, knowing his status as a barred firearms possessor.
ATF confidential informants then went to work, reaching out to Cross via social media. Instead of the requested Glock switch, Cross offered a “drop-in auto sear,” a device that converts AR-15-style rifles into illegal machine guns. On September 19, 2022, his girlfriend delivered one of these devices to an informant for $800, along with instructions on installation. Cross quickly upped the ante, offering bulk discounts.
The deals continued. On September 27, 2022, Cross met with the informant in Cape Girardeau and sold three more auto sears for $650 apiece. He even bragged about plans to source AR-15s and pre-install the devices, maximizing profit. Just weeks later, on October 12, 2022, Cross completed another sale of three auto sears for $1,900, using a different woman to deliver the contraband to an undercover ATF agent.
Federal law is clear: Glock switches and auto sears, even detached from a firearm, are classified as machine guns. This isn’t a technicality; these devices turn weapons into uncontrollable, inherently dangerous instruments, as local and federal officials warned in a January 5th press conference in St. Louis, noting a troubling surge in their recovery and use.
Cross is scheduled for sentencing on May 4th. He faces up to 15 years in federal prison, a $250,000 fine, or both. The investigation was conducted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy Willis is prosecuting the case.
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