Maryland man arrested after police found 80 illegal guns and ammunition in home

A 39-year-old man suspected of amassing an arsenal of firearms, including untraceable “ghost guns,” has been taken into custody by St. Mary’s County authorities after a week-long search.

St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Office officers arrested Jerod Adam Taylor at his residence Tuesday around 7 p.m. on outstanding warrants in connection with an investigation that began on Nov. 7, when officers initially responded to a domestic violence call in Lexington Park.

During that investigation, authorities reportedly discovered an extensive cache of weapons, including 80 firearms, multiple 3D-printed ghost weapons, and an array of equipment used for firearms production.

In addition to the ghost guns, detectives seized a wide variety of weapons from Taylor’s home, including an AK-47, a fully automatic rifle, a short-barreled rifle, high-capacity magazines, suppressors, auto-sears, more than 1,300 bullets. ammunition, body armor and various tools for the manufacture of weapons.

Philip Bangle, Senior Litigation Counsel at the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, emphasized the magnitude of the discovery.

“He shouldn’t have had a single gun, and he has eighty!” Bangle said, noting the dangers associated with the proliferation of ghost guns, which have no serial numbers and are difficult for law enforcement to track.

The suspect, 39-year-old Jerod Taylor, left the home before emergency services arrived.

Detectives believe Taylor acquired firearms for human trafficking purposes.

“It’s clearly a firearms trafficking facility. There’s no other explanation for that,” Bangle noted.

Bangle explained that the only difference between a traditional Glock and a ghost gun is the absence of a serial number, making ghost guns nearly impossible to track once they hit the black market.

“The buyers are usually criminals, young people and prohibited persons,” he added.

Since about 2017, ghost guns have been appearing more often at crime scenes.

The trend has accelerated in recent years, Bangle noted, pointing to incidents such as the 2022 shooting at Magruder High School in Maryland, in which a student allegedly used a ghost gun to wound another student.

Maryland took legislative action in the spring of 2022, passing a bipartisan bill banning ghost guns. However, Bangle argues that more needs to be done to curb its availability.

“There’s nothing stopping someone from buying 80, 100, 500 ghost gun kits and setting up shop in their garage or basement,” he said.

Taylor, who has a prior conviction and an outstanding warrant for theft, is not allowed to possess firearms.

He now faces multiple charges, including illegal possession of firearms and second-degree assault.