GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN — This is an official press release from the U.S. Department of Justice (USAO - Michigan, Western), published as received.

          GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN — U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Michigan Mark Totten announced that yesterday Troy Davonn Morgan, age 23, was sentenced to 130 months in federal prison for operating as an armed drug dealer in Kalamazoo, Michigan. In imposing the sentence, U.S. District Court Judge Robert J. Jonker rejected Morgan’s plea for leniency, emphasizing that, although Morgan is young, he is also a repeat federal gun offender who carried an exceptionally dangerous weapon—a pistol fitted with a machinegun-conversion device, commonly known as a “switch.” Judge Jonker also emphasized Morgan’s self-identification as a drug-dealing shooter, citing this text message:

          “Federal laws banning machineguns were designed to fight organized crime in the era of Al Capone,” said U.S. Attorney Mark Totten. “Now, nearly a century later, the spread of switches has made the destructive power of a tommy gun available to any street-level criminal with a few hundred dollars and a pistol. In the face of this rising threat, my office is committed to keeping these illegal weapons out our communities.” 

          In June 2023, Morgan finished serving a federal prison sentence for a gun crime and began a term of court supervision. Within weeks he was selling fentanyl, cocaine, and heroin on the streets of Kalamazoo. In September 2023, when police tried to arrest him, Morgan fled through a residential neighborhood, leading officers on a foot chase through a crowd of innocent bystanders. After officers converged on him, they learned he had a machine-pistol—pictured below, with the machinegun switch indicated—as well as fentanyl and cocaine.

          “The significant sentence in this case is a testament to the investigative priorities of the Kalamazoo Valley Enforcement Team and Kalamazoo Public Safety Crime Reduction Team,” said KVET Captain Michael Ferguson. “We will continue to focus on the most serious offenders, and especially those directly involved in illegal drug sales and violent crime in the City of Kalamazoo.”

          This case was investigated by the Kalamazoo Valley Enforcement Team, Crime Reduction Team, and Drug Enforcement Administration, with help from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Castle.

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