LUBBOCK, Texas — Jose Aristides Martinez, 23 at the time of his arrest, agreed to enter a guilty plea for Possession and Transfer of a Machine Gun, according to federal court records.
EverythingLubbock.com previously reported Martinez was arrested by the ATF at a motel in the 6600 block of I-27 back in August.
Federal court records stated agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives conducted operations before Martinez was arrested. On June 27, federal court records said a special agent met with a confidential informant (CI) who said Martinez was “offering to trade Glock Switch Machinegun Conversion Devices for a Glock 19 semi-automatic pistol that the CI had posted on a Facebook page for sale.
Martinez reached out to the CI through Facebook Messenger and eventually asked if he would be willing to trade the firearm for the conversion devices. Federal court records said on July 17, Martinez drove from Dallas to Lubbock to unwittingly meet an undercover ATF agent. Court records said Martinez got in the agent’s vehicle and started demonstrating how to use the conversion devices.
After the ATF confirmed the devices were used to convert weapons into machineguns, court records said another undercover operation was conducted on July 28. Martinez drove from Dallas to Lubbock and sold an undercover agent two conversion devices and two Polymer 80 pistols, each with devices already installed, court records stated.
On August 15, court records said Martinez traveled to Lubbock again and was arrested by ATF agents once he arrived. Federal court documents stated agents found semi-automatic weapons, conversion devices and an automatic machinegun in Martinez’s vehicle.
If his plea is accepted, Martinez will be sentenced to no more than 10 years in prison. He would face a supervised release of no more than three years. As of Friday, Martinez remained in federal custody.
