South L.A. Man Sentenced to 4 Years in Federal Prison for Illegal Firearms Sales, Including ‘Ghost Guns’

LOS ANGELES – A South Los Angeles man was sentenced today to 48 months in federal prison for participating in a scheme in which he and others illegally sold more than two dozen firearms – including “ghost guns,” firearms that lack serial numbers – and three silencers.

Jonathan Perez, 35, was sentenced by United States District Judge John A. Kronstadt.

After a three-day bench trial in August 2023, Judge Kronstadt found Perez guilty the following month 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.

Perez and his co-conspirators sold 22 guns and three firearm silencers over the course of seven transactions to a confidential informant. In a text to an associate that was introduced as evidence in the 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.

“[Perez] made a business out of manufacturing and selling firearms, and he did so without any concern for where the firearms might end up, what they may be used for, or who might get hurt,” prosecutors argued in a sentencing memorandum. 

Two other defendants in this case pleaded guilty in 2018 and 2021 to separate charges stemming from a related narcotics conspiracy.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives investigated this matter.

Assistant United States Attorney Declan T. Conroy of the International Narcotics, Money Laundering, and Racketeering Section and Assistant United States Attorney Maria Jhai of the Violent and Organized Crime Section prosecuted this case.