Federal Judge Sends Two Mobile Men to Prison for a Year and a Day Over Illegal Glock Switches

MOBILE, Ala. — A federal judge on Thursday sentenced two Mobile men to a year and a day in prison after each admitted possessing an illegal machine gun conversion device in downtown Mobile in the days surrounding a pair of Joe Cain Day shootings.

Joshua Marcel Pugh and Braedan Matthew Thomas each received sentences of one year and a day behind bars, followed by three years of supervision by the U.S. Probation Office. Pugh had a Glock switch when police arrested him on Fat Tuesday at a gas station on North Broad Street. Thomas was found with one the night before.

Sentencing was delayed for a third defendant, Kelvin Barnes Jr., who pleaded guilty to the same offense.

Back-to-back shootings put police on alert

Mobile police were operating on heightened alert after two unrelated, back-to-back shootings a block apart on Feb. 15. The first shooting happened on Dauphin Street outside a nightclub where an argument had broken out, leaving several people with gunshot wounds.

The second shooting occurred in the parking lot at the corner of Joachim and Conti streets, across from the Saenger Theatre. Investigators later determined that the shooter in that case acted in self-defense when he fired at and killed Javeli Alexander.

A video mocking the victim

Court records show Thomas admitted he had a Glock switch the day after the shooting, and that he appeared in a video mocking Alexander. Mobile police spotted Thomas walking on North Broad Street near Springhill Avenue about 40 minutes after the video appeared on Instagram.

In a sentencing memo, Federal Defender Carlos Williams wrote that Alexander was a close friend of Carl Washington, the man accused of murdering Thomas’ twin, whom the family has identified as a transgender teenager who went by the name Tayy. Williams wrote that Alexander and his friends had mocked Tayy.

“Mr. Thomas asserts that he did not intend to make a public spectacle of Javeli’s death,” Williams wrote. “It was supposed to be between him and his friends in their group chat.”

Williams wrote that a friend posted the video on social media.

“Mr. Thomas realizes that his actions mocking Alexander was wrong, yet, as the time, it felt cathartic, a releasing,” he wrote.

What a Glock switch is — and why it matters

A Glock switch is a small device that converts a semi-automatic handgun into a machine gun, allowing it to fire continuously with a single pull of the trigger. Under federal law, possessing one is treated the same as possessing an unregistered machine gun, a serious firearms offense that has become an increasing focus of federal prosecutors in South Alabama.

The devices are cheap, widely available online and have turned up in a growing number of arrests across the Gulf Coast, which is why police and prosecutors have made them a priority even when no shots are fired.

Three-year supervision terms

Both men will spend three years under supervision by the U.S. Probation Office after their sentences end. Barnes, whose sentencing was delayed, remains awaiting his day in court.

The case is one of several machine gun conversion device prosecutions in Mobile’s federal court in recent years, and police say the arrests around Joe Cain Day reflect the extra scrutiny officers placed on the downtown crowd after the two shootings.

Why Glock Switches Draw Federal, Not Just State, Charges

The device at the center of this case — commonly called a Glock switch, auto sear or trigger activator — is a small aftermarket part, often no bigger than a thumbnail, that overrides a semi-automatic pistol’s firing mechanism so it discharges continuously as long as the trigger is held down. Under the National Firearms Act and the federal machine gun ban codified at 18 U.S.C. § 922(o), any part that converts a semi-automatic firearm into one capable of fully automatic fire is legally treated as a machine gun itself, regardless of whether it is attached to a gun at the time it is found. That distinction matters because it means simple possession of the switch alone — with or without a firearm nearby — is enough to trigger a federal charge, and because civilian possession or transfer of a machine gun manufactured after 1986 is essentially prohibited outright, with no path to legally register one the way older, pre-1986 machine guns can be registered under the NFA.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has identified switches as one of its fastest-growing enforcement priorities in recent years, citing a sharp rise in recoveries at crime scenes nationwide. The devices are inexpensive, can be produced with a 3D printer or bought from online sellers who often market them under euphemistic names, and require no gunsmithing skill to install. ATF and local police agencies have said that guns modified with switches are especially dangerous in public settings because they empty a magazine in a matter of seconds, making it far more likely that bystanders — not just an intended target — are struck. That risk is a significant reason federal prosecutors in South Alabama and elsewhere have increasingly charged switch possession as a standalone offense, even in cases where, as here, no one was shot with the modified weapon itself.

How a Federal Sentence Like This One Gets Decided

A sentence of “a year and a day” is a specific and deliberate figure in federal court, not simply a round number. Under Bureau of Prisons policy, an inmate sentenced to a year and one day, rather than a flat 12 months, can potentially earn a modest amount of good-conduct time off the sentence, whereas a sentence of 365 days or less typically cannot be reduced at all. Judges and defense attorneys who negotiate plea agreements are often well aware of this threshold, and a sentence just over the one-year mark is common in federal cases resolved by plea rather than trial.

Federal sentences for firearms and machine-gun-related offenses are calculated using the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, which assign a base offense level to the crime and then adjust it up or down based on factors like a defendant’s criminal history, whether they accepted responsibility by pleading guilty, and the specific circumstances of the offense. A judge is required to calculate the applicable guideline range but is not strictly bound by it, and can weigh sentencing memoranda from both prosecutors and defense counsel — the kind of memo referenced in this case, in which the defense laid out context about the defendant’s background — before arriving at a final sentence. After release from custody, a term of supervised release, sometimes still referred to informally as federal probation, requires the person to check in regularly with a U.S. Probation Officer, maintain employment, and avoid further legal trouble; violating those conditions can send someone back to prison without a new criminal charge being filed.

Joe Cain Day and Mobile’s Extended Mardi Gras Season

Joe Cain Day, held on the Sunday before Fat Tuesday, is one of the largest single-day gatherings of Mobile’s Carnival season and draws large crowds of both locals and visitors to the city’s downtown parade route. Named for the man credited with reviving Mobile’s Mardi Gras celebrations after the Civil War, the event has grown into a full day of parading, costumed revelry and street-level celebration that stretches from downtown out toward Midtown neighborhoods. Because of the size of the crowds and the concentration of foot and vehicle traffic downtown, Mobile police routinely add extra patrols and coordinate with other agencies throughout the entire Mardi Gras season, not just on Fat Tuesday itself. Law enforcement officials in Mobile have said in past years that the combination of large crowds, alcohol and, increasingly, the presence of illegally modified firearms is part of why officers treat weapons violations uncovered during Carnival season with particular urgency, often working quickly to identify and arrest anyone found carrying an illegally modified weapon before the next parade or gathering draws similarly sized crowds back downtown.

The Federal Charging Process, From Arrest to Plea

Cases like this one typically move through federal court in a fairly standard sequence. After an arrest, a defendant makes an initial appearance before a magistrate judge, who decides whether the person will be held in custody or released, often with conditions, while the case proceeds. A grand jury then reviews the evidence gathered by federal agents and prosecutors and decides whether to return an indictment, or in cases resolved by agreement, a defendant can waive indictment and plead guilty to a charging document called an information. Most federal firearms cases, including machine gun conversion device prosecutions, are resolved through a negotiated guilty plea rather than a trial, in part because sentencing guidelines reward defendants who accept responsibility early with a reduction in their calculated offense level. A plea agreement typically spells out which charges the defendant is pleading guilty to, what sentencing recommendations each side may make, and whether the defendant is giving up the right to appeal. Sentencing itself is usually scheduled months after a guilty plea is entered, giving the U.S. Probation Office time to prepare a presentence investigation report that details the defendant’s criminal history, personal background and the specific facts of the offense, all of which the judge weighs before imposing a sentence such as the one handed down here.