Department of Justice
For Immediate Release
Providence Man Sentenced to Federal Prison for Selling Silencer Equipped Machine Gun and Fentanyl Laced Heroin
PROVIDENCE, RI – A Providence man arrested in April 2017 during a year-long Project Safe Neighborhoods investigation to identify individuals possessing or trafficking firearms in and around the Chad Brown neighborhood of Providence was sentenced today to 60 months in federal prison for possessing and selling an unregistered machine gun equipped with a silencer and for selling 240 grams of fentanyl laced heroin to an undercover federal law enforcement agent.
Edward Trinidad, 30, pleaded guilty in February as charged in an indictment returned on April 6, 2017, to one count each of possession of an unregistered machine gun, possession of an unregistered silencer, and transfer of a machine gun; two counts of distribution of heroin and fentanyl; and one count of distribution of 100 grams or more of heroin.
At sentencing, U.S. District Court Chief Judge William E. Smith also ordered Trinidad to serve 4 years supervised release upon completion of his term of incarceration.
The U.S. Sentencing Guidelines range of imprisonment in this matter is 60-63 months. The government recommended the court impose a sentence of 60 months in prison.
Trinidad’s sentence is announced by United States Attorney Stephen G. Dambruch; Mickey Leadingham, Special Agent in Charge of the Boston Field Division of ATF; and Providence Police Chief Colonel Hugh T. Clements, Jr.
Appearing before U.S. District Court Chief Judge William E. Smith on February 14, 2017, Trinidad admitted to the Court that on June 3, 2016, he sold an undercover ATF agent an unregistered machine gun equipped with a silencer. Trinidad also admitted that on June 24, 2016, he sold the undercover agent 29.61 grams of fentanyl laced heroin; on November 9, 2016, he sold the agent 109.42 grams of fentanyl laced heroin; and that on March 31, 2017, he sold the agent 101.15 grams of a material containing fentanyl.
In spring 2016, the ATF, the Rhode Island ATF Task Force and the Providence Police Department launched a joint Safe Streets Neighborhoods investigation to analyze shell casings retrieved from crime scenes in and around the Chad Brown neighborhood and elsewhere, utilizing ATF’s National Integrated Ballistic Information Network (NIBN). The investigation was expanded to attempt to determine who possessed various firearms used to commit crimes and the origin of those firearms.
NIBN identifies marks left on shell casings unique to a particular firearm. NIBN then assists in linking crime scenes to a firearm.
The investigation, publicly disclosed in April 2017, resulted in the seizure of the machine gun equipped with a silencer, a .45 caliber semi-automatic pistol, a .40 caliber semi-automatic pistol, a .25 caliber semi-automatic pistol, a .22 caliber revolver; a .380 caliber semi-automatic pistol, various types and quantities of ammunition, substantial quantities of heroin, fentanyl, cocaine and crack cocaine, and approximately $21,000 in suspected drug proceeds.
Project Safe Neighborhoods is a federal, state and local law enforcement collaboration to identify, investigate and prosecute individuals responsible for violent crimes in our neighborhoods. Project Safe Neighborhoods has been historically successful in bringing together all levels of law enforcement to reduce violent crime and make our neighborhoods safer for everyone.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Milind M. Shah.
The ATF Task Force is comprised of agents and officers from ATF, Providence Police Department, Pawtucket Police Department, Rhode Island State Police, and the Rhode Island Department of Corrections Special Investigations Unit.
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