A Lizella technical college student used 3D printers to make guns at home, pleads guilty
An area technical college student and self-described “machinist” admitted to building firearms with a 3D printer in his bedroom, federal prosecutors said Monday.
Jaden Michael-William Pope, 20, of Lizella, pleaded guilty to one count of manufacturing an unregistered machine gun before Judge Marc Treadwell, for the Middle District of Georgia, federal prosecutors said. He faces a maximum sentence of 10 years with three years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine.
“3D-printed machine guns and silencers pose a significant threat to the safety of our communities by increasing the access of illegally manufactured rapid-fire weapons to potentially dangerous individuals,” Acting U.S. Attorney Shanelle Booker said.
Pope was indicted on Oct. 8, 2024 and studied at Central Georgia Technical College in Warner Robbins, court records show. Lizella is located 11 miles west of Macon in Crawford County.
Machine guns, silencers were made
3D printing involves using a computer to create objects by layering materials, most commonly plastic, and fusing them together.
Before being caught manufacturing firearms with a 3D printer, Pope admitted to Crawford County Sheriff’s Office deputies around September 2023 that he had been stealing items out of vehicles at night, including firearms, court documents show. While he was being investigated, deputies searched his phone. They found pictures of firearms and silencers that he had personally built, along with screenshots from a website called Yeggi, which offered 3D-printed templates of AR-15 fullly automatic rifles.
Later in September, a source reached out to law enforcement that Pope was manufacturing firearms, including silencers, in his bedroom. They had also seen Pope “shoot a firearm with a manufactured silencer and noted that the silencer significantly diminished the sound,” according to court documents. An agent with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives was contacted.
The agent later found Pope’s Facebook profile, where he had posted pictures of himself with the firearms he built, including a Glock handgun with a “switch” that allows him to fire multiple rounds, only needing to pull the trigger once, according to court documents. A Glock handgun typically can only fire one round when the trigger is pulled.
The ATFE agent checked Pope’s registration within the National Firearm Registration and Transfer Record and noted that he had no weapons, including machine guns, silencers or short-barreled rifles, registered in his name.
He also described himself as a “machinist” on his Facebook profile, court documents show.
This prompted the ATFE agent to obtain a search warrant, which was executed on Dec. 12, 2023, at Pope’s Lizella home. In the bedroom, agents found four 3D printers, three computers, machine guns, silencers and a rifle with a five-inch barrel. They also found a Taurus .45-caliber pistol, which was reported stolen on March 8, 2023, in Crawford County.
A firearms expert at the ATFE lab in Martinsburg, West Virginia, determined that two pieces of 3D-printed polymer material, one in black and another tan-colored, qualified as machine guns per federal law since they are parts that are “designed and intended solely and exclusively for use in converting a weapon into a machine gun,” according to court records. They also determined that nine 3D-printed cylindrical devices qualified as silencers under to federal law.
Agents also found “diagrams and instructions for building the firearms, notes related to their production, scrap parts and failed 3D prints and residue,” court records show. They also found “g-codes,” a programming code that tells the computer to 3D print the machine guns, silencers and a short-barreled rifle.
Authorities also found methamphetamine hidden within a USB drive.
“These weapons are designed to evade detection and accountability, posing an undeniable threat to public safety,” ATFE Assistant Special Agent in Charge Beau Kolodka said.
Pope will be sentenced May 13.
This story was originally published January 30, 2025 at 12:50 PM.
