Joao Paulo Silva, Firearms Trafficking, Florida 2022

⏱ 2 min read

A Brazilian national was caught peddling guns to a cooperating witness in Eastern Massachusetts, eventually leading to a federal indictment and 4-year prison sentence.

Guilherme Fernandes-Tavares, 32, was a brazen gun runner who sold 11 firearms, including one with a high-capacity magazine and another with an obliterated serial number, between January and May 2024.

On March 27, 2024, Fernandes-Tavares sold a pistol with a 29-round magazine to the cooperating witness, and on May 7, 2024, he sold another pistol with a serial number he’d deliberately scrubbed.

When questioned about the serial number, Fernandes-Tavares told the witness that his source required him to remove it.

Fernandes-Tavares was arrested in May 2024 on unrelated state charges and subsequently charged in federal court in March 2025. He pleaded guilty in November 2025 and was sentenced to 4 years in prison by Senior U.S. District Court Judge Patti B. Saris.

MORE FEDERAL CRIME NEWS

Weapons

Darnell Upshaw, Felon in Possession of Firearm, Massachusetts 2018

Dec 22, 2017

Weapons

David Michael Ansberry, Use and Attempted Use of a Weapon of Mass Destruction, Colorado 2016

Nov 2, 2016

Weapons

Alexander Dehoyos, Illegally Possessing Handgun, New York 2022

Jul 1, 2022

Weapons

Jacory Dejuan Robinson, Lying to Buy a Gun, Louisiana 2018

May 2, 2019