Illegal Firearms Dealer Who Used “Glock Switches” To Convert Pistols Into Machine Guns Is Sentenced To Prison

The Defendant Sold Firearms to Members of a Drug Trafficking Organization

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – U.S. District Robert J. Conrad Jr. sentenced today Charlton Christian Allen, 37, of Monroe, N.C. to 42 months in prison followed by one year of supervised release, for dealing in firearms without a license and possession of a machine gun, announced the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of North Carolina

According to filed court documents and today’s sentencing hearing, from April 2014 to February 2019, Allen engaged in the business of dealing in firearms without being a licensed firearms dealer. Court records show that over the course of an investigation into a drug trafficking organization (DTO) operating in the greater Charlotte area, law enforcement learned that Allen supplied the DTO with firearms in exchange for drugs and cash.

On May 15, 2019, federal agents arrested Allen at his residence.  Inside Allen’s home, they found a Remington shotgun, a homemade firearm, a .22 caliber handgun, a .22 caliber rifle, numerous firearm parts, approximately 2,000 rounds of ammunition, a drill press, and instruction manuals for gun modifications.  The agents also seized two Glock conversion devices, commonly known as “Glock switches,” used to illegally convert Glock pistols into machineguns.

On August 16, 2019, Allen pleaded guilty to dealing in firearms without a license and possession of a machine gun.  He has been in federal custody since May 2019.  Details about the federal prosecution of the DTO members Allen was selling firearms to can be found here.

The ATF and the FBI investigated the case, which is the result of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF).  OCDETF is a joint federal, state and local cooperative approach to combat drug trafficking and is the nation’s primary tool for disrupting and dismantling major drug trafficking organizations, targeting national and regional drug trafficking organizations and coordinating the necessary law enforcement entities and resources to disrupt or dismantle the targeted criminal organization and seize their assets.

Assistant United States Attorney Erik Lindahl, of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Charlotte prosecuted the case.