Providence, Rhode Island: Johnston Man Pleads Guilty to Unregistered Silencers

A Johnston man pleaded guilty in federal court in Providence on Monday, November 9, 2026, to possessing two unregistered firearm silencers, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Rhode Island said. Alessio Dandrea, 30, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Court Judge Mary S. McElroy to two counts of possession of an unregistered firearm.

Sentencing set for February

Dandrea is scheduled to be sentenced on February 11, 2027. Each count carries up to 10 years in prison, up to three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $10,000. The sentence will be imposed by the judge after consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors, prosecutors said.

A parcel from China started the case

According to court documents, U.S. Customs and Border Protection intercepted a parcel shipped from China and addressed to Dandrea on June 14, 2023. Inside was an AR-15 "lightning link" auto sear, a device the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives classifies as a machine gun because it is designed to convert a semi-automatic AR-15 style rifle into an automatic weapon. Federal charges followed in July 2023.

Six firearms seized in Johnston

Agents and officers from Homeland Security Investigations, the ATF and the Johnston Police Department then searched Dandrea's home under a court authorized warrant. They seized six firearms and two firearm silencers, one of them attached to a rifle. Investigators determined that neither silencer was registered to Dandrea in the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record, as federal law requires.

From arrest to plea

When agents first announced the case in July 2023, Dandrea was charged by criminal complaint with possession of an unregistered silencer and with unlicensed importation or transportation of a machine gun from foreign commerce. A criminal complaint is an accusation, and at that stage a defendant is presumed innocent. Monday's guilty plea resolves the case on the two possession counts and removes the need for a trial. The plea rests on the same registry check investigators ran in 2023: no silencer was registered to Dandrea in the federal record, and that missing registration is what makes the possession illegal under federal law.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys G. Michael Seaman and Ronald Gendron. It was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the ATF, with help from the Johnston, Warwick, Providence, Central Falls and Pawtucket police departments.