SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - On Nov. 2, 2017, a federal grand jury returned seventeen separate indictments charging twenty-two individuals for trafficking firearms without a license, announced Rosa Emilia Rodríguez-Vélez, United States Attorney for the District of Puerto Rico. The agencies in charge of the investigation are the Puerto Rico Police Department, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobbaco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), and the Puerto Rico Department of Justice with the collaboration of Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations.
The defendants are also facing charges for: possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number, possession of a machine gun, and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. During the investigation and leading up to today’s take-down, authorities seized 35 firearms, including 20 pistols and 15 rifles, among these, five were machine guns.
Today, as part of this joint effort, the Puerto Rico Department of Justice charged eight other defendants with firearms violations.
“We will vigorously prosecute those involved in the illegal sale and trafficking of firearms, which are then used in the commission of violent crimes," said United States Attorney Rosa Emilia Rodríguez-Vélez. “We will continue working with the state authorities to keep firearms out of the hands of criminals, who all too frequently endanger our community."
“Today is a good day for the citizens of Puerto Rico as these indictments exhibit a collective effort to combat violent crime in the community. Together with the Police of Puerto Rico and HSI, we have dismantled a group dedicated to firearms trafficking in Puerto Rico," said Ari C. Shapira, Assistant Special Agent in Charge for the Bureau of Alcohol, tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Miami Field Division.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Marie Christine Amy and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Daynelle M. Álvarez-Lora are in charge of the prosecution of the cases. If convicted, the defendants face up to five years in prison for engaging in the business of dealing firearms without a license, up to 10 years for possession of a machine gun and for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, and up to life in prison for possession of firearms in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. Indictments contain only charges and are not evidence of guilt. Defendants are presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
