American man jailed for allegedly trafficking over 100 ‘ghost guns’ to Dominican Republic
NEW YORK, (CMC) – A 36-year-old American man has been sentenced to more than five years in jail for allegedly trafficking over 100 untraceable “ghost guns” to the Dominican Republic, the United States attorney for the Southern District of New York has said.
Attorney Damian Williams, the son of a Jamaican-born physician, said that Robert Alcantara was sentenced by US District Judge Vernon S Broderick after he pleaded guilty to conspiring to traffic firearms and conspiring to launder money.
“Robert Alcantara alone trafficked over 100 untraceable ghost guns to the Dominican Republic. The proliferation of unlawful ghost guns is a threat to public safety, and our response is clear: we will not let up,” said Williams.
According to the charging documents and other filings and statements made in court, Alcantara from 2017 until January 2022 operated a “ghost gun” factory out of his home in Rhode Island.
The indictment states Alcantara purchased ghost gun kits at gun shows and other places, and then “machined the kits into working firearms.
“Once he had completed the untraceable firearms, he exported and sold them to the Dominican Republic. Most of those guns were handguns, but a number were rifles,” according to the indictment, noting that Alcantara and others then laundered the proceeds of his gun sales.
The indictment further states that, on November 20, 2021, “Alcantara was stopped in his vehicle in possession of kits to build approximately 45 ghost guns.
“Alcantara was interviewed by law enforcement agents and stated that he was planning to turn the 45 kits into working firearms, and he had 50 additional similar ghost guns at his home.”
In addition to the prison term, Williams said Alcantara was sentenced to three years of supervised release.
Williams praised the “outstanding investigative work” of the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives and the US Department of Commerce’s Office of Export Enforcement, New York Field Office as well as other US law enforcement agencies for their assistance in the case.
