Rhode Island Man Pleads Guilty to Fraudulently Acquiring Firearms from a Licensed Dealer

Portland, Maine: A Pawtucket, Rhode Island man pleaded guilty today in federal court in Portland to providing false information in connection with the acquisition of firearms from a licensed dealer, U.S. Attorney Halsey B. Frank announced.

According to court records, on five separate occasions between April 2018 and August 2018, Salvador Rodrigues, 22, purchased firearms from Kittery Trading Post. During each of the five purchases, Rodrigues presented an invalid Maine driver’s license and/or falsely claimed in writing that he had not been convicted of a felony offense. In fact, he had been convicted in Rhode Island of felony possession of a pistol without a license and a felony drug offense in May 2018.

Rodrigues faces up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine on each of the five counts to which he pleaded guilty. He will be sentenced after the completion of a presentence investigation report by the U.S. Probation Office.

The Pawtucket Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives investigated the case, which was brought as part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN). PSN is the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts. PSN is an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime. Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders work together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in the community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them. As part of this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime. For more information about PSN please visit www.justice.gov/psn.