Marcel Pierre Denis, a 58-year-old licensed legal professional and former administrative listening to officer in New York, has pleaded responsible to 2 counts of making an attempt to illegally export firearms from Miami to Haiti, federal prosecutors announced.
Denis entered his responsible plea on April 18 earlier than U.S. District Choose Jose E. Martinez, admitting to 2 separate makes an attempt to smuggle firearms in April and October 2022. In each instances, weapons had been found hidden in cargo packing containers destined for Haiti and listed beneath Denis’s title.
In response to court docket data, the primary incident occurred in April 2022 when regulation enforcement officers at a Miami-Dade County delivery warehouse discovered an AR-15-style semiautomatic rifle, {a magazine}, and ammunition hid in a cargo field. The cargo, which lacked the mandatory export documentation, was flagged after warehouse workers recognized Denis because the sender and a frequent buyer.
In a Could 2022 interview, Denis admitted to the unauthorized cargo. However simply months later, in October 2022, regulation enforcement intercepted one other cargo from Denis that contained a semiautomatic pistol wrapped in duct tape and hidden inside a espresso container. Investigators traced the acquisition of the pistol again to Denis, who later admitted he supposed to ship the firearm to an affiliate in Haiti to guard a retail enterprise.
Throughout a November 2022 interview, Denis acknowledged his earlier run-in with regulation enforcement and confirmed he was totally conscious that an export license was required to legally ship firearms or ammunition overseas.
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Regardless of his authorized background, Denis made the shipments with out the right permits, violating federal export legal guidelines. He now faces as much as 10 years in jail for every depend. Sentencing is scheduled for July 7, 2025.
The investigation was carried out by Homeland Safety Investigations (HSI) Miami, with assist from U.S. Customs and Border Safety. Assistant U.S. Legal professional Sterling M. Paulson is prosecuting the case.
This prosecution is a part of Challenge Protected Neighborhoods, a nationwide initiative geared toward decreasing violent crime and gun-related offenses by coordinated efforts between federal, state, and native regulation enforcement companies.
