BOSTON (WWLP) – A man from Brookline was sentenced to prison for illegally possessing two privately made machine guns. 

On October 15, 2022, a Trooper was called to the weigh station on I-95 South in Rowley after witnesses reported a vehicle being operated erratically had pulled into the weigh station. The Trooper spoke with the driver, 24-year-old Stewart Silvestri, and observed a handgun with a 50-round drum magazine in plain sight inside the vehicle and another handgun under the driver’s seat.

Stewart Silvestri
Stewart Silvestri (Massachusetts State Police)
guns seized in Rowley
Seven polymer handguns and one AR-style short-barreled rifle, 34 magazines, 23 of which were high capacity magazines. Twenty-three of the magazines were loaded with varying amounts of rounds. (Massachusetts State Police)

According to charging documents, a search of the vehicle revealed 14 privately made firearms (also known as ghost guns), hundreds of rounds of ammunition, and numerous firearm parts. Two of the firearms were fully automatic pistols, classified as machine guns. 

According to the Department of Justice in Boston, Silvestri pleaded guilty to one count of unlawful possession of machine guns, he was sentenced to 42 months in prison.

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