Haitian nationals residing in Florida were charged for smuggling firearms, including rifles and handguns, from the United States.
Officials seized 18 rifles, five handguns, firearms magazines, over 36,000 rounds of ammunition, and a silencer from inside a container that had been shipped from Miami in South Florida destined for Haiti.
This month, United States Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe announced the return of an indictment charging 28-year-old Francesca Charles, a U.S. citizen residing in Florida, 32-year-old Jacques Pierre, and his brother 34-year-old Jeff Pierre, both citizens of Haiti residing in Florida, with conspiracy to smuggle goods and unlawfully ship firearms, smuggling goods from the United States, and unlawfully shipping firearms. If convicted, each faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison.
According to court documents, in February 2025, officials in the Dominican Republic seized 18 rifles, five handguns, firearms magazines, over 36,000 rounds of ammunition, and a silencer from inside a container that had been shipped from Miami, Florida. The shipping container was destined for Haiti.
The firearms and ammunition were not listed on the shipping manifest, which instead listed household goods. Agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), as well as Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), learned that the defendants were the purchasers of at least 20 of the 23 firearms seized from the shipping container.
Throughout the investigation, agents learned that the defendants purchased at least 46 firearms between May 2024 and February 2025, most of which were the same make and model as the firearms recovered in the Dominican Republic. Thirty-seven of those firearms were purchased between August 9, 2024, and February 10, 2025.
Agents also obtained records that Jacques Pierre purchased two Barrett .50-caliber rifles, which are heavy-duty military-style weapons that are typically mounted to the tops of vehicles and used in furtherance of violence by gangs and cartels. One of the Barrett rifles was recovered in the aforementioned shipment in February 2025.
Travel and shipping records showed that the co-conspirators would facilitate a shipment to Haiti shortly after purchasing a large number of firearms, then would travel to Haiti around the time the shipment was scheduled to arrive in Haiti. Travel records also showed that the defendants traveled to the Dominican Republic three days before the shipping container was intercepted.
This gun smuggling case is being investigated by the ATF and HSI with assistance from U.S. Embassy Port-au-Prince and the United States Marshals Service. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Elisibeth Adams.
This case is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime.
