Republished May 16, 2019 - 7:53 AM
Original Publication Date May 15, 2019 - 9:41 PM
ANCHORAGE, Alaska - A judge has denied bail for an Alaska man being held on charges of illegally purchasing and manufacturing weapons, a report said.
Michael Graves, 19, will remain in custody in Anchorage, The Anchorage Daily News reported Tuesday.
Graves is charged with possession of a machine-gun and possession of an unregistered firearm.
Graves made homemade silencers and bought a device online that can convert a gun into an automatic weapon, prosecutors said.
Investigators were notified about a package U.S. Customs and Border Control intercepted containing a Glock full-auto selector switch, an illegal device enabling conversion to a fully automatic weapon. Investigators delivered the package to Graves at his father's Anchorage home using an undercover postal worker, an FBI agent testified Tuesday.
The decision to deny bail was influenced by social media posts by Graves earlier this year that included violent rhetoric targeting minority groups, said Chief Magistrate Judge Deborah Smith.
"I think the court has to consider people mean what they say," Smith said.
Graves is too dangerous to release, even on 24-hour house arrest with a tracking monitor as requested by his defence attorney, prosecutors said.
"We have a lot of people in our community who he has avowed he wants to shoot up or kill," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Kimberly Sayers-Fay.
Graves told the FBI that the tweets were jokes, the agent said.
Investigators found no evidence Graves had ever hurt anyone, said defence attorney Allen Dayan.
"As far as you know, he's just a loudmouthed kid who likes guns and spouts off on social media," Dayan said.
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Information from: Anchorage Daily News, http://www.adn.com
News from © The Associated Press, 2019