Instagram post leads to gun and drug bust at near east side Indy home

INDIANAPOLIS — Two people have been arrested on weapons charges after an Instagram post led officers with the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department to raid a home on the near east side of Indianapolis.

During a SWAT raid on Wednesday, police seized eight handguns, 20 grams of methamphetamine as well as $3,480 in cash. Two of the handguns were equipped with machine gun conversion devices.

The investigation began when detectives claim they saw Instagram posts by Ronald Castellanos with pictures and prices of the weapons.

“You know Instagram is not the place to sell firearms,” said IMPD officer Drew Brown.

IMPD insists the bust at a home on North State Avenue illustrates an ongoing concerted effort to crack down on machine gun conversion devices across Indianapolis.

“This just goes to show the hard work our detectives are putting in day in and day out,” said Brown. “They are getting these dangerous machine gun devices off the streets which can inflict  a terrible amount of damage.”

Private sales of firearms are perfectly legal in Indiana, even using social media, as long as both parties are not prohibited from possessing the weapons.  However, selling machine gun conversion devices is always against the law.

“It should be noted that the firearms recovered from the home matched the pictures on the Instagram that were listed for sale,” the court documents read. “The two firearms with switches, one gold and one silver, were posted on the Instagram for sale and were recovered.”

“Possession of a machine gun conversion device is a serious felony in and of itself, let alone allegedly selling those on a social media platform,” said Brown.

At the time of his arrest, Castellanos was on probation after he pleaded guilty in July to randomly firing a gun at Brookside Park.

In that case, Castellanos was charged with criminal recklessness with a deadly weapon, which is a Level 6 felony, before he eventually pleaded guilty and was sentenced to the same crime as a misdemeanor.

Brenijah Hollis was also arrested on weapons charges following the SWAT raid this week.

The affidavit in the case shows that in addition to the guns, police also recovered a small amount of methamphetamine during the raid.  Police claim Castellanos also used Instagram to try and sell drugs.

Both suspects were arrested on preliminary charges of possession of a machine gun.

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