Melbi Ovidio Ortez, Firearms Trafficking, Massachusetts 2025

A ruthless firearms trafficker has been taken off the streets of Chelsea, Massachusetts.

Melbi Ovidio Ortez, a 40-year-old Salvadoran national and alleged 18th Street Gang associate, was charged with engaging in the business of dealing in firearms without a license, a federal crime that carries a sentence of up to five years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a fine of up to $250,000.

According to the charging documents, Ortez allegedly sold firearms and ammunition behind his Chelsea residence on four different occasions between April 3, 2025, and May 2, 2025. The items sold include a Glock 9mm caliber pistol, a Sturm and Ruger .22 caliber revolver, a Glock .40 caliber pistol, a Colt .380 caliber pistol, magazines, and over one hundred rounds of ammunition.

It is further alleged that the serial numbers on both the Glock 9mm pistol and the Colt .380 pistol had been defaced, and that the Glock 9mm pistol had been purchased only 20 days earlier from a licensed firearms dealer in New Hampshire.

Ortez also allegedly sold suspected cocaine on two occasions during the same period.

Ortez was arrested this morning and following an initial appearance this afternoon, he was ordered detained pending probable cause and detention hearings scheduled for July 18, 2025.

The defendant is subject to deportation upon completion of any sentence imposed.

United States Attorney Leah B. Foley, Kimberly Milka, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the FBI, Boston Division, and Scott Riordan, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Boston Field Division, made the announcement. Valuable assistance was provided by the Boston, Chelsea, Everett, Falmouth, Lynn, Medford, Nantucket, and Revere Police Departments, Massachusetts State Police, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Enforcement and Removal Operations, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services' Fraud Detection and National Security Unit, Massachusetts Department of Correction, and the Suffolk County and Middlesex County District Attorney's Offices.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Fred M. Wyshak, III of the Organized Crime & Gang Unit is prosecuting the case. This case is also part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) operation.

The details contained in the charging documents are allegations. The defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-ma/pr/salvadoran-national-arrested-allegedly-selling-firearms-without-license