CHICAGO - A convicted felon was charged today with federal firearm violations for allegedly illegally possessing a machine gun, silencers and ammunition in his Lake County home.
GREGORY DOMENICO, 35, of Wauconda, is charged with one count of illegal possession of ammunition by a convicted felon, and one count of illegal possession of an unregistered machine gun and three silencers. Domenico possessed the machine gun, silencers and five rifle cartridges at his residence in December 2018 and January 2019, according to a criminal complaint and affidavit filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago. Domenico was arrested Thursday, and law enforcement carried out a court-authorized search of his residence.
Domenico made an initial court appearance today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Sheila Finnegan in Chicago and was ordered to remain in federal custody. A detention hearing was scheduled for Feb. 27, 2019, at 10:30 a.m.
The charges were announced by John R. Lausch, Jr., United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; Timothy Jones, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Field Division of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; John Idleburg, Lake County Sheriff; and David Wermes, Chief of the Wauconda Police Department. The case was investigated by the Lake County Gang Crimes Task Force. The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Tiffany Ardam.
According to the complaint, an undercover law enforcement officer made several purchases of unregistered firearm parts from Domenico. The sales occurred at Domenico’s residence, the complaint states.
According to the complaint, Domenico sold the undercover officer two silencers on Dec. 13, 2018; a silencer and an auto-sear, which is designed to convert a semi-automatic pistol into a machine gun, on Dec. 18, 2018; and five rifle cartridges on Jan. 22, 2019. Domenico was previously convicted of a felony and could not lawfully possess a firearm, firearm parts, or ammunition. Domenico has never held a federal firearms license nor has he registered the possession and transfer of any items with the National Firearm Registration and Transfer Record, the complaint states.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
