A San Jacinto man has been sentenced to two years behind bars for illegally possessing nearly three dozen machine guns, as well as short-barrel shotguns and silencers, that were found at his home by authorities conducting a murder investigation.
Nathaniel Arviso, 34, was also ordered by U.S. District Judge S. James Otero to pay a $2,500 fine and serve three years of supervised release after he gets out of prison.
Arviso and older brother Alfred Arviso each pleaded guilty last year to one federal count of illegally possessing machine guns.
The cache of weapons at the Arvisos’ home was discovered by deputies with the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department during the execution of a search warrant in an unrelated investigation. During the search, law enforcement officials discovered 33 machine guns — including 15 short-barrel rifles — another seven short-barrel rifles that were not automatic weapons and eight silencers without serial numbers.
Federal law strictly regulates firearms that have a high potential for causing mass casualties, such as automatic weapons that can fire multiple rounds with one trigger pull, prosecutors said.
Alfred Arviso, 36, was previously sentenced by Otero to three years in federal prison.
Neither man has been charged in relation to the homicide investigation.
–City News Service