University of Arizona student sentenced to 7 years for drug trafficking, firearm crimes

PHOENIX — A search through the average college students’ apartment may unveil unsavory secrets, but one University of Arizona student had more to hide than his classmates.

When agents looked through 22-year-old Jonathan Edward Mayer’s apartment in 2021, they found drugs and a privately manufactured firearm, also known as a “ghost gun,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona

The agents discovered the ghost gun had an “automatic conversion switch that rendered it a machine gun,” the office said in a Friday statement.

On top of that, Mayer had also been hiding LSD, amphetamines, psychedelic mushrooms and cocaine, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona.

That wasn’t all. He had six firearms in total, along with $20K in cash and a gold money counter, the office said.

This University of Arizona student was fully loaded

Agents seized several firearms, including a Glock pistol loaded with a 30-round magazine, according to the Friday statement.

Officials found the fully-loaded weapon in a backpack Mayer carried around campus, the U.S. Attorney’s Office of Arizona said.

Mayer pleaded guilty to drug trafficking and firearms offenses in court, according to the office’s Friday statement.

“Mayer admitted to mailing marijuana, mushrooms, and machine gun conversion devices through the United States Postal Service to various locations in the United States,” the Friday announcement said.

U.S. District Judge Scott Rash sentenced Mayer to 84 months in prison on June 30, the statement said. That’s seven years behind bars.

“Schools and guns are a dangerous combination,” United States Attorney Gary Restaino said in a statement. “His actions created a public safety risk here in Tucson.”

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