Firearms Trafficker Sentenced to 10 Years in Federal Prison
More than a dozen firearms, ammunition and drugs seized in 16–month ATF, Providence Police probe at Chad Brown Housing Project
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — A Providence, R.I., man today became the second city man in less than a week to be sentenced to a lengthy term of incarceration in federal prison on federal firearms charges, announced United States Attorney Peter F. Neronha; Guy N. Thomas, Special Agent in Charge of the Boston Field Office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF); and Police Chief Colonel Hugh T. Clements, Jr.
Carlos Vazquez, a/k/a Crazy Carlos,
42, of Providence, was sentenced today by U.S. District Court Judge William E. Smith to 120 months in federal prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release, for trafficking in firearms, ammunition and drugs. Vazquez pleaded guilty in January 2012 to an eleven–count federal indictment. He was arrested on September 16, 2011.
An investigation from March 2010 to July 2011 by ATF agents and Providence Police into Vazquez’s and others activities in the Chad Brown Housing Project included the purchase and seizure of more than a dozen firearms, ammunition and drugs. Vazquez admitted to the court that he sold nine firearms, a large quantity of ammunition and narcotics to an undercover federal agent posing as a person who needed guns to engage in home invasions, drug dealing, and retaliatory shootings.
Among the firearms that Vasquez admitted to selling to the undercover federal agent was one that was used to shoot and wound a Providence woman on March 16, 2011. Vazquez sold the pistol to the agent for $650 two days after the shooting.
In a separate case stemming from the same investigation, Trini Fuentes, 23, of Providence, was charged in a four–count federal indictment with allegedly selling four firearms to an undercover federal agent. Fuentes, who was arrested on September 16, 2011, entered a plea of not guilty to the charges and is detained while awaiting trial.
On Thursday, in an unrelated case, U.S. District Court Judge John J. McConnell, Jr. sentenced Dwayne M. Taylor, 28, of Providence, to 120 months in federal prison, the statutory maximum sentence for being a felon in possession of a firearm. Taylor admitted to the court that he was a passenger in a vehicle in October 2011 which Providence Police attempted to stop in the West End of Providence after receiving a report that the occupants of the vehicle were in possession of a firearm, several pairs of plastic gloves and a Halloween mask. Police believed that the occupants of the vehicle were on their way to commit a home invasion or robbery.
Police pursued the vehicle until it came to a stop in South Providence, at which time police broke the driver’s side window and detained the driver. At the same time, Taylor opened a rear passenger door while reaching into his waistband, grabbing a firearm and tossing it on the floor of the vehicle, and then fleeing on foot towards Route 95. A fight with the defendant ensued as he was apprehended. Police recovered from the vehicle a loaded 9mm semi–automatic pistol, 5 pair of plastic gloves and a Halloween mask.
The cases were prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard W. Rose. The matters were investigated by ATF and the Providence Police Department.
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