A soldier was indicted Wednesday in Texas federal court for allegedly 3D-printing and selling parts that can turn commercially available firearms into automatic weapons.
Spc. Grant Lee Mosley, 25, a combat engineer at Fort Bliss, Texas, confessed on Aug. 2 to manufacturing and selling illegal gun parts, an FBI agent stated in the criminal complaint against Mosley. Mosley was arrested the same day as his confession.
Federal law enforcement in May came across a channel on an unspecified online messaging platform advertising 3D-printed AR-15 automatic sears and Glock automatic switches, which can turn the semi-automatic weapons into fully automatic ones.
In June and July, an undercover officer bought red plastic AR-15 sears and a metal Glock switch from the seller. Investigators used a variety of clues — from fingerprints on the gun parts to credit card records to receipts in a Fort Bliss dumpster — to identify the seller as Mosley, according to the complaint.
Law enforcement also found a 3D printer in Mosley’s storage unit in El Paso, Texas.
A member of the 1st Armored Division’s 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, Mosley joined the Army in May 2019, according to a spokesperson for the division.
“1st Armored Division and Fort Bliss strive to ensure the safety of our Soldiers, dependents, and guests living, working, and recreating on Fort Bliss,” the 1st Armored Division public affairs office said in a statement to Army Times. “We thank our interagency partners for their efforts to keep our community safe.”
The case was investigated by the FBI, the ATF, the Army Criminal Investigation Division and the Postal Inspection Service and is being prosecuted in the Western District of Texas.
Mosley faces four counts: dealing or manufacturing firearms without a license, transferring or possessing a machine gun, dealing firearms without paying an occupational tax and possessing a firearm with no serial number. If found guilty, Mosley faces between 5 and 10 years per count and a fine of up to $250,000 per count, according to an FBI statement on the indictment.
The 1st Armored Division and the FBI both stressed in their statements that Mosley is considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
Mosley’s public defender, Darren Ligon, did not respond by late afternoon Friday to a request for comment sent that morning.
Irene Loewenson is a staff reporter for Marine Corps Times. She joined Military Times as an editorial fellow in August 2022. She is a graduate of Williams College, where she was the editor-in-chief of the student newspaper.
