DALLAS — Officers with the Dallas Police Department arrested 28-year-old Jaterrian Damon Johnson on Aug. 7 after he was found with a gun and a machinegun conversion device, more commonly known as a switch, in his possession.
According to the U.S. Attorney's Office Northern District of Texas, Johnson was charged through a criminal complaint with felon in possession of a firearm.
On the day of his arrest, undercover officers were conducting increased surveillance at an apartment complex near Walnut Hill Lane and Greenville Avenue due to a recent incident with Dallas PD and suspects who crashed a stolen truck into a patrol car, the attorney's office said in a press release.
According to the attorney's office, officers allegedly saw a Kia Sorrento commit some traffic violations while exiting the parking lot of the apartment complex and stopped the vehicle.
After officers got the driver's license, they noticed that Johnson, who was in the passenger seat, kept looking back at officers and making suspicious movements, the attorney's office said.
According to the attorney's office, it was when officers returned to the car that they allegedly saw a high-capacity Glock magazine on the passenger floorboard, under Johnson's seat. In addition, officers found a .40 caliber Glock handgun with a round in the chamber and a switch inserted into its backplate in the glove box.
After a criminal history check was made on Johnson, it was revealed that he previously pled guilty to a charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and was sentenced to three years in prison.
According to the U.S. Attorney's Office Northern District of Texas, Johnson faces up to 15 years in federal prison if convicted of the crime.
The attorney's office said in the press release that this case is a part of "Operation Texas Kill Switch," which is a statewide initiative to rid communities of switches. This effort is led by U.S. Attorneys Leigha Simonton, Alamdar Hamdani, Damien Diggs and Jaime Esparza.
