Man sentenced to federal prison for importing switch devices, but FBI & MPD say ‘hundreds’ more remain on streets

By Adam Rife

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    MILWAUKEE, Wisconsin (WDJT) — Federal agents and the Milwaukee Police Department are trying to stop illegal and deadly gun parts from getting into the hands of people in Milwaukee.

On Thursday, Dec. 5, 22-year-old Milwaukee man Demario Robinson was sentenced to 88 months in federal prison for importing hundreds of switch devices.

The switch devices modify a semiautomatic gun into a fully functioning machine gun.

The 7+ year prison sentence keeps deadly devices off Milwaukee streets and punishing the person responsible.

But it also illustrates just how many of these devices are still out there and how challenging it will be to stop them.

Michael Hensle is the FBI’s Special Agent in Charge of the Milwaukee Field Office. At a news conference Thursday, he said, “we know hundreds of these are on the street.”

The devices are small, often advertised as invisible. They are made for just pennies worth of plastic and sold for a few dollars.

Milwaukee Police Chief Jeffrey Norman said, “It’s illegal, it’s wrong, and we shall not tolerate it.”

And the effects are devastating. The switch devices turn a semiautomatic gun into a machine gun, as the chances of shooting injuries and death skyrocket.

Norman patrolled Milwaukee’s streets before switches were commonly available. He said, “as you talked about my time as a patrolman, you might have one or two individuals harmed. Now you’re seeing multiples. And this is where we talk about the whole mass shooting situations out here.”

Robinson was sentenced after pleading guilty to importing hundreds of switch devices from China.

Last May, FedEx officials in Memphis flagged a package from China that was sent to Robinson’s address in Milwaukee.

US Customs and Border Protection found 47 switch devices inside.

Robinson had agreed to pay $1,000 for 50 switch devices.

Authorities found he received other shipments of switch devices at least eight other times.

It’s impossible to know how many are still in Milwaukee.

While many crime metrics are positive and Shot Spotter technology is showing fewer multi-gun incidents, Norman said, “you’re seeing more casings at these particular scenes, which is a direct correlation to these particular type of switches.”

The FBI said a sharp increase in production from overseas, particularly China, is flooding US cities.

Hensle added, “We see, whether it’s one or multiple switches, regularly in all our joint investigations from the task force environment.”

The switches are not easy to track, but USPS, CBP, and other federal agencies are on the lookout.

But keeping them from getting to criminals is a challenging process, and law enforcement is still learning what to look for.

Hensle said, “Once you go through events where you see these come in, you learn how it’s done, that’s how you get ahead of it. That’s how you stop it in the future.”

Switch devices are also being made and sold in the US, cheaply and easily, with the right resources.

An added challenge: the FBI said they’re also seeing an increase in the use of suppressors to make the weapons quieter. So, not only are people using illegal weapons, they’re trying to make it harder to detect them.

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