A Brazilian national, Guilherme Fernandes-Tavares, was sentenced on April 1 in federal court in Boston to four years in prison for selling firearms without a license. The sentencing was handed down by Senior U.S. District Court Judge Patti B. Saris. Fernandes-Tavares, 32, will face deportation after serving his sentence.
The case highlights ongoing concerns about illegal firearms trafficking and its impact on public safety. According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Fernandes-Tavares pleaded guilty in November 2025 to one count of engaging in the business of dealing firearms without a license.
Between January and May 2024, Fernandes-Tavares sold a total of eleven firearms in Eastern Massachusetts. These included a pistol with a high-capacity magazine capable of holding 29 rounds and another pistol with an obliterated serial number. Prosecutors said that when questioned about the missing serial number, Fernandes-Tavares told a cooperating witness that his source required him to remove it.
Fernandes-Tavares was arrested in May 2024 on an unrelated state charge before being charged federally by criminal complaint in March 2025 and indicted later that July.
The announcement was made by United States Attorney Leah B. Foley; Thomas Greco, Special Agent in Charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives (Boston Field Division); Michael J. Krol, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations (New England); and David T. Wesling, Acting Field Office Director for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (Boston). Assistant U.S. Attorney John Reynolds prosecuted the case.