FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WISH) — An I-Team 8 investigation continues to track the growing trend of machine gun conversion devices throughout Indiana.

In July, an I-Team investigation revealed Marion County has seen a 5,600% increase in the number of cases for machine gun possession.

Allen County Prosecutor Michael McAlexander told I-Team 8 it was only a matter of time before they started to find these devices in the Fort Wayne area. “As things trend, we eventually find them, whether it’s drugs or weapons. So, I think anyone who’s along these corridors will see this.”

A simple piece of plastic dropped into the firing mechanism of an AR-15-style rifle makes it a fully automatic machine gun. McAlexander said, “It’s certainly a little bit frightening to see the damage that they can do.”

According to a probable cause affidavit for a recent arrest, police executed a search warrant on the home where 23-year-old Jamarri Price was staying. Officers found two 3D printed devices.

Police tested the devices and found that they did make an AR-style rifle into a fully automatic.

After being read his rights, Price admitted to police that he knew what the devices were and that they were used to turn a rifle into a machine gun.

I-Team 8 has followed a new state law that took effect July 1, making it a felony in Indiana to simply have possession of one of these devices. McAlexander said that law has helped his office.

“The Indiana Prosecuting Attorneys Council was very supportive of the clear definitions in the machine gun bill and has made that easier for all of us to prosecute if we have the misfortune to find those kinds of weapons.”

McAlexander shared a message for anyone who goes to the internet to find plans for 3D-printed machine gun conversion devices: “I’d like to think that people won’t try to make machine guns out of other weapons, but, if they do, I guess the warning to them is: they will be vigorously prosecuted.”

The charges against Price are only the second time someone has been charged with possessing a machine gun in Allen County.