MIAMI – If a convicted felon or a drug dealer needed to get a weapon and pay with narcotics in Miami, for years Johnny Battle Jr. was the guy, according to federal prosecutors.
Battle, 30, of Miami, ran a business in the black market for about six years that included selling “Glock Switch” machine gun conversion devices, according to federal prosecutors.
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Federal investigators tracked over 170 of the weapons Battle sold and recovered some in New York City, Boston, and even overseas, according to prosecutors who charged him with dealing firearms without a license and possession of a machine gun in 2022.
On Monday, a jury in downtown Miami convicted Battle of both charges.
During his trial in Miami federal court, Battle’s defense contended that because buying or selling a gun is not illegal in every instance the charge had no foundation, but the evidence in the case included surveillance recordings and controlled calls, records show.
Detectives with the Miami Police Department worked with federal agents from the FBI, Homeland Security Investigations, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives.
Detectives also worked with investigators from the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the U.S. Department of Commerce, and with detectives from the Miami-Dade Police Department, and the Broward Sheriff’s Office.
U.S. District Court Judge Beth Bloom is set to sentence Battle on Oct. 27 at the Wilkie D. Ferguson, Jr. United States Courthouse. He faces up to 15 years in prison, according to prosecutors.