A Marshalltown man will serve time in prison for his role in obtaining and utilizing a device that’s designed to convert a handgun into an automatic type weapon.

Twenty-year-old Jose Morales-Ramirez of Marshalltown was recently sentenced to two years in federal prison after he pleaded guilty earlier this year to illegal possession of a machine gun.

Police were called to Morales-Ramirez’s residence after reports of possible gunshots were received by law enforcement.  During a search, police recovered a Glock Conversion Device that’s used for converting a weapon into a machine gun.  The Glock Conversion Device, also known as a “Glock Switch,” had been printed on a 3-D printer.

Morales-Ramirez was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by U.S. District Court Judge C.J. Williams.  In addition to the prison sentence, Morales-Ramirez was also placed on three years supervised release.