Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives

NEWARK, N.J. – A Jersey City, New Jersey, man was sentenced today to 120 months in prison for selling 33 firearms to a confidential informant, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.

Bernardo Guzman, 26, previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Madeline Cox Arleo to an information charging him with one count of possessing firearms while being a previously convicted felon. Judge Arleo imposed the sentence today in Newark federal court.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

Guzman admitted that on Nov. 14, 2013, he met with an individual in the parking lot of a grocery store in Fort Lee, New Jersey, to illegally sell three handguns. Guzman also admitted that from June 2013 through February 2014, he sold approximately 33 firearms and hundreds of rounds of ammunition to a confidential informant. The firearms sold by Guzman consisted of semiautomatic weapons, sawed-off shotguns, assault-style rifles and firearms with high-capacity magazines. Some of the firearms had obliterated serial numbers. All of the weapons and ammunition are now in the custody of law enforcement.

In addition to the prison term, Judge Arleo sentenced Guzman to serve three years of supervised release.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth M. Harris of the Organized Crime/Gangs Unit of the Criminal Division in Newark.

U.S. Attorney Fishman credited special agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge George P. Belsky; special agents of Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Newark Division, under the direction of Acting Special Agent in Charge Kevin Kelly; and the Jersey City Police Department with the investigation leading to today’s plea.

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Defense counsel: Julian Wilsey Esq., Livingston, New Jersey