Rocco Joseph Frakes, Unlawful Possession of Silencers and Short-Barrel Rifle, Florida 2024

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Rocco Joseph Frakes Pleads Guilty to Unlawful Possession of Silencers and Short-Barrel Rifle

Jacksonville, Florida – United States Attorney Roger B. Handberg announced that Rocco Joseph Frakes (50, Middleburg) has pleaded guilty to unlawfully possessing unregistered silencers and an unregistered short-barrel rifle.

According to the plea agreement, on July 25, 2024, federal agents executed a search warrant at Frakes’s home and located a .22 caliber rifle with a threaded barrel, three silencers, a rifle with a 7 ½ inch long barrel, and a .45 caliber machinegun in Frakes’s bedroom.

Contrary to federal law, none of these devices were registered to Frakes in the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record—a database maintained by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Frakes is retired from the United States Navy, where his primary duty was as a weapons instructor for Atlantic Fleet squadrons.

This case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the United States Postal Inspection Service.

Assistant United States Attorney Elisibeth Adams is prosecuting the case.

The case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone.

Frakes faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in federal prison. A sentencing date has not yet been set.