San Jacinto brothers Alfred Arviso, 35, and Nathaniel Arviso, 33, pled guilty in federal court yesterday to illegally possessing a small arsenal of machineguns discovered during a raid on their home. The cache—33 machineguns, including 15 short-barrel rifles, seven additional short-barrel rifles, and eight unserialized silencers—was uncovered by the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department on May 15, 2016, while executing a warrant in an unrelated investigation.
The weapons, many of which were fully automatic and capable of firing multiple rounds with a single trigger pull, were hidden inside the brothers’ residence. Federal law strictly controls such high-capacity firearms due to their potential for mass casualties. Authorities say the sheer volume and lethality of the cache posed a grave threat to public safety, with the potential for the weapons to flood into criminal networks across Southern California.
Alfred Arviso was taken into custody immediately following his guilty plea and is scheduled for sentencing before United States District Judge S. James Otero on February 27, 2017. Nathaniel Arviso remains free on bond and will be sentenced on March 6. Each faces a statutory maximum of 10 years in federal prison and could be fined up to $250,000.
“Federal law strictly regulates firearms that have a high potential for causing mass casualties, such as automatic weapons that can fire multiple rounds with one trigger pull,” said United States Attorney Eileen M. Decker. “The cache of dangerous weapons found in this case could have made their way into the hands of criminals, endangering public safety.”
The investigation was a joint effort between the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department. Agents seized the weapons and launched a federal probe after confirming the firearms were unregistered and illegally modified, violating the National Firearms Act.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Julius J. Nam of the Riverside branch office. As sentencing looms, federal authorities are emphasizing the danger posed by unregulated private stockpiles of military-grade weapons in residential neighborhoods.
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Key Facts
- State: California
- Agency: DOJ USAO
- Category: Weapons
- Source: Official Source ↗
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