Alabama man sentenced for using 3D printers to make machine gun part
An Alabama man who used 3D printers to turn weapons into machine guns was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison, prosecutors announced Friday.
Ivan Hollingsworth, 35, of Florence, also stole more than $46,000 in Social Security Administration funds, according to the U.S. attorney’s office for the Middle District of Florida. Hollingsworth was prosecuted in Florida because he mailed the parts that converted firearms into machine guns there.
He pleaded guilty on April 10 to transferring machinegun conversion devices and theft of government funds.
U.S. District Judge Wendy W. Berger sentenced Ivan Hollingsworth to 10 years in federal prison. She also ordered him to forfeit $46,426.91, which is traceable to proceeds of the offense involving stolen SSA funds. He was also ordered to pay the same amount in restitution to the SSA.
Hollingsworth manufactured and transferred hundreds of 3D printed auto sears, which are parts used in converting weapons into machine guns, prosecutors said.
He advertised his 3D printing business on social media.
Between December 2021 and March 2022, Hollingsworth communicated with an undercover ATF agent and negotiated the sale and transfer of hundreds of auto sears, which he delivered from Alabama to Florida via the U.S. Postal Service, prosecutors said.
On March 17, 2022, federal agents executed a search warrant at Hollingsworth’s home in Florence and fond a machine gun, 111 3D printed auto sears, 11 silencers, and three 3D printers, according to prosecutors.
From June 2018 through October 2022, Hollingsworth also stole $46,426.91 in Social Security benefits that were intended for another person, according to court records.
Hollingsworth’s prosecution was part of Project Safe Neighborhoods, a program between law enforcement agencies of various levels and their communities to reduce violent crime and gun violence.