CARMEL, Ind. — A man accused of being armed with a "machine gun" in a running vehicle on Interstate 465 was sentenced to 46 months in federal prison.
A judge sentenced 31-year-old Michael Parham, of Indianapolis, after he pleaded guilty to illegally possessing a firearm as a convicted felon.
According to court documents, on Aug. 26, 2021, around 9:30 a.m., Carmel Police Department officers said they were alerted to a man slumped over the steering wheel of his vehicle at the I-465 westbound exit to U.S. 31 South.
When officers arrived, they reported two men were passed out in the driver and front passenger seats of a white Buick Regal.
The driver was later identified as Parham. The Buick was reportedly running and in drive, with Parham’s foot on the brake. The windows of the Buick were all rolled down and the doors were locked, according to police. An officer reached into the Buick and put the vehicle in park.
The officer then reportedly began shaking and yelling at Parham to wake him from his unconscious state.
Parham did not verbally respond to any questions about his medical status or whether he was under the influence of any narcotics, according to officers.
Officers removed the keys from the Buick and placed Parham under arrest.
During the search of the vehicle, officers reportedly located a loaded 9-millimeter Glock semi-automatic pistol on the front driver floorboard in plain view.
The Glock pistol was loaded and equipped with a machinegun conversion device.
Machinegun conversion devices, sometimes called "Glock switches" or "auto-sears," are devices that convert ordinary semiautomatic firearms into fully automatic machineguns.
"Machinegun conversion devices are themselves considered machineguns under federal law, even when not installed, and are illegal to possess or sell without a special license," police said in a statement about the incident.
Parham is prohibited from possessing any firearm due to his previous federal felony conviction for robbery.
At the time of this arrest, Parham was reportedly still on supervised release after being released from federal prison for a robbery.
