A 20-year-old Miami Gardens man is facing federal charges after agents say they raided his home and found illegally manufactured automatic weapons, including a 3D-printed Glock-style pistol and plastic AR-15-style guns, along with evidence that firearms were being built and test-fired on the property. Lance Ricardo Dwyer was arrested on a charge of unlawful transfer or possession of machine guns following the search, which turned up a homemade gun-making operation investigators say was built to slip past the neighborhood’s gunshot detection network.
Undercover Buy Led Agents to 3900 Block
The search warrant was carried out at a home in the 3900 block of Northwest 173rd Terrace after an undercover operative arranged to pick up three homemade guns equipped with conversion devices, according to the Miami Herald. When agents moved in, they say they found those three weapons together in a bag, along with two Springfield firearms and several plastic AR-15-style guns scattered through the residence. Two of the homemade guns reportedly had conversion devices already installed, while a third had been disassembled.
Agents also recovered a plastic Glock-style gun with a conversion device installed, according to the same report. On top of the assembled weapons, investigators say they found one uninstalled conversion device and, separately, four more uninstalled conversion devices elsewhere in the home — devices that under federal law carry the same legal weight as a fully assembled machine gun even when detached from any firearm, per the federal statutory definition found in 26 U.S.C. § 5845(b).
Backyard Rig Aimed at Dodging Gunshot Sensors
Perhaps the most striking discovery, according to the Herald’s reporting, was a test-firing apparatus set up in Dwyer’s backyard alongside workstations investigators linked to the alleged manufacturing operation. That apparatus was reportedly designed to reduce the likelihood that gunfire would be detected by ShotSpotter technology — the acoustic gunshot detection system that networks outdoor sensors across the county to alert police to gunfire without relying on 911 calls, according to Miami-Dade County.
Investigators say they also located broader evidence of a gun-making facility inside the home, including a kiln, firearm-manufacturing jigs, clay forms, metal shavings, and a tool matching the material composition of the conversion devices. Agents traced shipments of several of the conversion devices to the home from China, the Herald reported — a pattern federal prosecutors elsewhere in 2026 have described as part of a broader trend of overseas vendors shipping conversion parts in commercial parcels to bypass customs inspection, according to the Department of Justice.
Charges Carry Up to 10 Years Per Count
Dwyer remains jailed pending formal charges and is represented by a federal public defender, who did not immediately respond to the Herald’s request for comment. He is scheduled to appear before a judge on August 27 to face formal charges…