BOSTON — On Thursday, April 9, 2026, Carlos Perez, 40, of Fall River, pleaded guilty in federal court in Boston to four counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition and one count of distributing a controlled substance.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts, U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani scheduled Perez’s sentencing for July 14, 2026. Perez was arrested and charged in November 2025.
Federal prosecutors say Perez sold cocaine, a .45 caliber pistol and ammunition to a cooperating witness on May 5, 2025. It is also alleged that Perez later sold a Sig Sauer P230 SL, .380 caliber pistol and ammunition on June 2, 2025, a Ruger Max 9 9mm pistol and ammunition on June 30, 2025, and a Smith & Wesson M&P 9 Shield 9mm pistol and ammunition on Aug. 27, 2025.
Perez was barred from possessing firearms and ammunition because of multiple prior convictions. According to the charging documents, Perez has 61 adult charges on his criminal record and more than 15 criminal convictions. Those convictions include a 2015 state conviction for possession with intent to distribute a Class A substance, for which he served two years in a house of corrections, as well as two separate 2008 convictions for assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, which resulted in a two-year suspended sentence and six months in a house of corrections.
The felon-in-possession charge carries a sentence of up to 15 years in prison, up to three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000. The drug distribution charge carries a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, at least three years to a lifetime of supervised release and a fine of up to $1 million.
United States Attorney Leah B. Foley and Thomas Greco, special agent in charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ Boston Field Division, announced the plea. The Massachusetts State Police and the Fall River and New Bedford police departments assisted in the investigation.
Assistant U.S. Attorney John J. Reynolds III of the Organized Crime & Gang Unit is prosecuting the case.