The U.S. Attorney’s office has announced the sentencing of a Benton Harbor man in a case involving machine gun conversion devices, or switches.
U.S. Attorney Mark Totten said Thursday 21-year-old Torez Burnett has been sentenced to 70 months in federal prison for being the ringleader of a group in Benton Harbor that converted handguns into machine guns.
“The defendant was in the business of purchasing and importing switches from China, which were delivered in the mail,” Totten said. “He would then offer these devices for sale. He frequently discussed them on his Facebook account. He sold them to many people, including buyers in Benton Harbor and Grand Rapids.”
Totten said the use of switches on handguns is relatively new. When he started his career in law enforcement, he rarely saw them.
“Today, these dangerous devices show up regularly. The pose an enormous threat to our communities, to our children, to our law enforcement officers, and to anyone who stands in the way of their indiscriminate spray. Their destructive capacity is really quite staggering.”
Totten said Burnett imported the machine gun conversion devices and distributed them to members of his street gang, My Brother’s Keeper.
Burnett pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy to possess and transfer machine guns and a charge of possession and transfer of a machine gun.
Six others have so far been sentenced, five of them from Benton Harbor. The sentences range from 24 to 84 months.
In all, eleven have been charged in the case.
