Stockton Man Sentenced to over 8 Years in Prison for Possession of Firearms and Ammunition Purchased on the Dark Web

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Jeremy Solima, 41, of Stockton, was sentenced Thursday by U.S. District Judge Morrison C. England Jr. to eight years and four months in prison for being a felon in possession of a firearm, U.S. Attorney McGregor W. Scott announced.

According to court documents, on July 22, 2017, officers conducted a probation search of Solima’s residence and found a stolen assault rifle, a pistol, six high‑capacity magazines, three gun barrels, six boxes of ammunition, gun scopes, and other miscellaneous gun pieces. He said he purchased the firearms from the dark web marketplace AlphaBay, and he intended to sell them in Stockton. Solima, who had been previously convicted of several felonies, was prohibited from possessing or selling firearms.

Dark web marketplaces are operated on computer networks designed to conceal the true Internet Protocol address of the computers accessing the network. Dark web marketplaces allow for payments to be made only in the form of digital currency, most commonly in Bitcoin. AlphaBay was shut down by law enforcement in July 2017.

This case is a product of the Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) initiative and joint investigations by the Stockton Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. PSN brings together federal, state and local law enforcement to combat gun and gang crime. PSN aims to incapacitate chronic violent offenders and deter potential gun offenders through increased federal prosecution. Assistant U.S. Attorney Cameron L. Desmond prosecuted the case.