Virginia Beach man pleads guilty to federal firearms conspiracy

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – A Virginia Beach man pleaded guilty yesterday to possessing and transferring machineguns and to conspiring to illegally sell firearms, including machineguns, handguns, and rifles.

According to court documents, beginning in April 2023, law enforcement began investigating Eric Floyd, 22, who was engaged in selling firearms and Machinegun Conversion Devices, commonly referred to as “Glock switches,” which are used to convert semiautomatic firearms into machineguns. From May to December of 2023, Floyd and his co-conspirators arranged the sale of approximately nineteen handguns, two rifles, and thirty-five Glock switches – many of which they manufactured – to an individual who, unbeknownst to Floyd, was an undercover federal law enforcement agent.  At one transaction, Floyd told the individual that some of the firearms were “dirty,” that is, involved in criminal activity, because he and his associates were involved in criminal activity and that his selling the dirty firearms to others who were taking them far away helped distance the original perpetrators and firearms from their criminal activity. He also told the individual that he had reinvested the proceeds of the purchases into buying more firearms for the business. He also said, with respect to the individual’s trip, “that’s a trip and it’s a hell of a risk that you doing this s--- for like coming across them state lines, that’s straight fed time.”

Floyd pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to engage in the firearms business without a license and to illegally possess and transfer a machinegun and one count of illegally possessing and transferring a machinegun. He is scheduled to be sentenced on July 11. Floyd faces a maximum penalty of fifteen years in prison. Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Jessica D. Aber, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, and Craig Kailimai, Special Agent in Charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Washington Field Division, made the announcement after U.S. Magistrate Judge Douglas E. Miller accepted the plea.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Julie Podlesni is prosecuting the case.

A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Related court documents and information are located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 4:23-cr-75.