A South Los Angeles man was sentenced to four years behind bars Thursday for the illegal sale of two dozen firearms, including unregistered guns and silencers.
Jonathan Perez, 35, was sentenced in L.A. federal court by U.S. District Judge John A. Kronstadt.
After a three-day bench trial in August 2023, Kronstadt found Perez guilty of one count of conspiracy to engage in the business of dealing in firearms without a license, one count of engaging in the business of dealing in firearms without a license, and one count of possessing an unregistered firearm silencer, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Perez and his accomplices sold 22 guns and three firearm silencers over the course of seven transactions to a confidential informant, prosecutors said.
In a text to an associate that was introduced as evidence at trial, Perez said he was “selling straps to the cartel.” Perez personally manufactured many of the 18 ghost guns that were sold to the informant during the transactions in 2017, evidence showed.
Two other defendants in the case pleaded guilty in L.A. federal court to separate charges stemming from a related narcotics conspiracy, prosecutors said.