Ex-con from Mass. sentenced to 36 months in federal prison

Admitted to visiting city with intent to buy ammunition

WOONSOCKET — A ex-con from Massachusetts man who unlawfully purchased ammunition from a local firearms dealer was sentenced to 36 months in federal prison for the crime on Wednesday.

Charlie D. Vick, 30, of Everett, was prohibited from possessing ammunition because of prior felony convictions, federal prosecutors said.

Vick pleaded guilty last year to being a felon in possession of ammunition, admitting that he and Gabriel A. Rosario, 23, of Chelsea, traveled from Boston to Woonsocket with the intent of buying ammunition because state law allows the sale of ammunition without a background check, unlike Massachusetts.

Last March, Rosario admitted that he committed another crime during the trip to Bullseye Shooting Supplies with Vick. While Vick busied the store manager with questions about ammunition, Rosario grabbed a .22-caliber handgun from the counter, shoved it in his pants and left the store.

Rosario is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 30 after pleading guilty to theft of a firearm from a licensed dealer.

After Rosario left, the store manager and

Vick completed a transaction for three boxes of ammunition that Vick knew was unlawful due to his record, prosecutors argued in court.

An investigation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms (ATF) and Explosives determined that within a few days the firearm Rosario stole was sold on the streets of Boston.

To obtain assistance from the public in identifying the two men responsible for the theft of the firearm, ATF offered a $1,500 reward leading to the identification of one of both of them. At least two individuals contacted the Woonsocket Police Department and identified Vick as one of the two men depicted in surveillance camera photos publicized by law enforcement.

During a sentencing hearing in Providence on Wednesday, U.S. District Court Judge William E. Smith sentenced Vick to 36 months incarceration to be followed by 3 years supervised release, according to United States Attorney Aaron L. Weisman.

The charges against the two men were part of the U.S. Justice Department’s “Project Guardian,” an initiative aimed at reducing gun violence and enforcing firearms laws, partly by improving inter-agency information-sharing among state, local, federal and tribal authorities.