What started as a routine traffic stop in Hancock County quickly escalated into a high-stakes gun seizure, after deputies say they pulled over a Ford Focus and ended up confiscating a Glock pistol fitted with a suspected machine gun conversion device. Deputies reported hearing automatic-style shots nearby and later recovered a second handgun that police say had been reported stolen out of Marion County. Two people in the car were ordered out and taken into custody after the search.
Traffic stop, two people detained
Hancock County deputies say they stopped the Ford Focus in the 3700 block of County Road 800 West and ordered both occupants out of the car, a 17-year-old male and 18-year-old Derrick Damont Abernathy of Indianapolis. According to deputies, the juvenile was transported to the Madison County juvenile detention center, while Abernathy was booked into the Hancock County Jail.
Deputies reported smelling marijuana and say they recovered a Glock 17C that had been fitted with a machine gun conversion device, along with a spent shell casing that did not eject. They also reported finding a Glock 19 Gen4 with a blue rubber grip that Carmel police say was reported stolen out of Marion County. An initial hearing in Hancock Circuit Court was held on June 25, according to reporting by the Greenfield Reporter.
Legal implications
Under federal law, parts that are designed to convert a semiautomatic firearm into a fully automatic weapon are treated as machineguns. That definition appears in 26 U.S.C. §5845, as summarized by the Legal Information Institute. The classification means that simply possessing a conversion device can bring federal felony exposure, even if the part was never installed on a gun.
Prosecutors in other cases have pursued charges tied to conversion devices and secured convictions, according to a U.S. Attorney’s Office press release, showing how these small pieces of metal can trigger very big legal problems.
Charges and court status
Hancock County prosecutors charged Abernathy with a Level 4 felony count of operating a loaded machinegun, a Level 5 felony count of possession of a machinegun and a Class B misdemeanor count of possession of marijuana. The case remains in its early stages, with the defendant being held in the county jail. Authorities say the juvenile was placed in a Madison County facility.
Court records cited by the Greenfield Reporter show that an initial hearing took place in Hancock Circuit Court on June 25.
What comes next
State prosecutors will decide how the case moves forward and whether investigators from other jurisdictions should get involved, since both conversion devices and stolen firearms commonly draw multijurisdictional attention. Federal prosecutions tied to Glock conversion devices have produced guilty pleas and prison terms in recent years, highlighting how quickly a local traffic stop can turn into a larger federal case, as noted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
