Oakland County deputies in Pontiac say a routine directed patrol turned into something far more serious when they recovered a stolen Glock that had been reworked into a fully automatic pistol and fitted with a high-capacity drum magazine. The sheriff’s office says investigators expect to pursue a stack of charges tied to both the weapon and illegal drugs, highlighting growing anxiety among local police over tiny conversion devices that can turn an everyday handgun into a far more dangerous tool.
The Oakland County Sheriff’s Office said in a Facebook post that its directed patrol unit came across the weapon in Pontiac. "This stolen Glock had been modified to operate as a fully automatic weapon and was paired with a drum magazine," the post said. As reported by CBS News Detroit, the sheriff's office added it "will be asking for every charge possible: including carrying a concealed weapon, possession of heroin, possession of cocaine, and felony firearm."
What charges could follow
Michigan law specifically bans devices designed to convert a semiautomatic firearm into a fully automatic one and makes it a felony to manufacture, sell, or possess those parts, with prison time and fines on the table under state statute. Justia publishes the text of Michigan Compiled Laws §750.224e, which spells out the offense and the penalties. At the federal level, regulators treat auto sears and so-called "Glock switches" as machine-gun conversion parts, exposing anyone caught with them to steep federal penalties, according to the gun-safety group Giffords Law Center.
Local pattern: modified pistols and social posts
Recent local cases show this was not a one-off. Deputies and federal agents have repeatedly encountered pistols equipped with extended magazines or alleged conversion devices, sometimes tracking them through social media. ClickOnDetroit covered a 2023 incident in which authorities said a Glock had been altered with a switch, and earlier coverage described a 2022 investigation tied to Instagram posts that showed a Glock with a drum-style magazine later recovered by agents. Together, those episodes show how law enforcement in Oakland County and beyond is leaning on online evidence and routine patrol work to track down modified handguns.
In this latest case, neither the sheriff's social media post nor CBS News Detroit identified a suspect, and there was no immediate indication in public records that charges had been formally filed. The sheriff’s office also did not release further details about who had the firearm or the precise spot in Pontiac where deputies recovered it.
