Christopher Roy Prieto, 31, learned the hard way that sometimes an expired registration is more than just a $75 ticket. During a routine traffic stop, Lubbock police discovered Prieto was carrying a “switch” — not the Nintendo kind, but the tiny gadget that turns a regular handgun into a machine pistol. Nothing says “totally normal law-abiding citizen” like carrying your own DIY fully automatic conversion kit.
Prieto then casually admitted he had more at home, because of course he did. A search warrant later uncovered multiple conversion kits locked away in a safe. That’s right, he was basically running a little homebrew weapons lab, all while cruising around town in a car with expired tags.
Now he’s facing 17 counts of Possession of Prohibited Weapons plus Unauthorized Use of a Motor Vehicle, with bonds set at $85,000. From expired sticker to full-blown arsenal bust — only in Lubbock does a traffic stop turn into an ATF recruitment poster.
Maybe next time, Christopher, renew the tags before stockpiling machine gun parts?
