Two Los Angeles County men are set to plead guilty Thursday to federal charges for their alleged roles in a scheme that used Instagram to sell more than 60 firearms, including unregistered “ghost guns” and machine gun conversion devices known as “Glock switches.”
Salvador Lopez, 24, of Whittier has agreed to enter his plea to two counts: engaging in the business of dealing in firearms without a license and aggravated robbery of money of the United States, court papers show.
Ivan Quintos, 27, of Azusa is expected to plead guilty to one count of firearms trafficking.
The pair were charged in Los Angeles federal court in May along with two other defendants from Henderson, Nevada — Mark Perez, 22, and Zachary Dry, 23.
According to the 11-count indictment, from July 2023 to May, Perez and the other defendants used Instagram to coordinate and sell more than five dozen firearms. Some of the defendants allegedly used Instagram to sell the firearms, which included ghost guns and Glock switches as well as firearms with obliterated serial numbers and stolen weapons.
The illegal firearm sales occurred in North Hollywood, Las Vegas, and elsewhere, the indictment alleges.
Federal prosecutors said Perez, Quintos, Lopez, and Dry are not federal firearms licensees and not allowed to sell firearms. The indictment alleges that Perez is prohibited from possessing firearms due to his 2021 misdemeanor conviction in Nevada for domestic violence, and that Dry is prohibited from possessing firearms due to prior felony convictions for assault and battery in Nevada last year.
Perez also is charged with four counts of being a prohibited person in possession of firearms and ammunition, one count of possessing a firearm with a removed or altered serial number, and one count of possession of a machine gun. Dry was also charged with possessing a firearm as a felon, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.