ORANGE PARK, Fla. — An Orange Park man and YouTuber were sentenced to five years each in federal prison Friday for transferring and conspiring to transfer unregistered machine gun conversion devices, according to a press release from the United States Department of Justice.
Kristopher Justinboyer Ervin, a 43-year-old man of Orange Park, was sentenced to five years and eight months while Matthew Raymond Hoover, a 39-year-old man of Wisconsin, was sentenced to five years. Ervin was additionally sentenced for structuring cash withdrawals from his bank account, consisting of proceeds of the sale of the devices as U.S. District Judge Marcia Morales Howard also ordered him to forfeit $68,000, representing the amount of funds involved in the structuring offense, the release states.
Before the two men were found guilty by a federal jury on April 21, 2023, court documents indicate that in January 2021, Ervin's bank contacted the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) to report that employees believed Ervin was trafficking in machine gun conversion devices. An investigation that followed the move, revealed that Ervin was "running an online business selling machine gun conversion devices, known as lightning links, etched into metal cards, which he referred to as Auto Key Cards," the release states. He described the 'Auto Key Cards' as a "pen holder," a "novelty" and a "political sculpture," the release states.
In February 2021, federal agents from ATF and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service surveilled and observed Ervin dropping off dozens of packages at an Orange Park post office, each of which was determined to contain unregistered machine gun conversion devices. A lightning link can be dropped into a legal AR-15 type firearm and convert it into a fully automatic machine gun, according to the release.
The release states that as ATF were examining the auto key cards, a firearms enforcement officer was able to remove the pieces of a lightning link from a card using a common Dremel rotary tool in about 40 minutes. When the officer placed the two pieces of lightning link into an AR-15 type firearm, it converted the semi-automatic firearm into a fully automatic firearm - in which is a machine gun, the release states.
The YouTube personality, Hoover, operated a YouTube channel called 'CRS Firearms' and is where he advertised auto key cards, the release states. The channel has garnered over 183,000 subscribers and is where Hoover once stated that his viewers could cut a lightning link out of the auto key card, "drop it in your receiver, scratch your full auto itch, throw it away when you’re done” and “no one’s the wiser,” the release states.
Hoover’s videos advertising the auto key cards led to a "substantial increase" in Ervin’s sales, the release mentions. Ervin sold more than 2,000 auto key cards in only a few months, the release states. Multiple purchasers of the card testified at trial that they had learned about it from Hoover’s videos and purchased the card, intending to use it to convert their AR-15 type weapons into machine guns, the release states. Ervin compensated Hoover for his YouTube video advertisements by sending cash through the mail and, on one occasion, a Louis Vuitton purse, the release states.
In March 2021, federal agents executed a search warrant at Ervin’s home and recovered auto key cards containing etchings for more than 1,500 lightning links. In total, the evidence showed that the conspiracy involved at least 6,600 individual lightning links, the release states.
“Investigating this case required dedication and tenacity on behalf of ATF’s Jacksonville Field Office and our partner agencies on this matter—the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Internal Revenue Service and the U.S. Attorney’s Office,” said ATF Tampa Field Division Special Agent in Charge Kirk Howard in the press release, whose agency led the investigation. “Our work was necessary to prove the true nature of the Auto Key Cards being sold by Ervin and Hoover and disrupt their audacious scheme to circumvent federal firearms laws.”
The case was investigated by ATF, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation.
Anyone in possession of an auto key card, should contact his or her nearest ATF office or call 1-800-ATF-GUNS and make arrangements to surrender the device to ATF so that it can be destroyed, the release suggests.