SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) – Two men from Chicopee and Holyoke were arrested on Saturday after an investigation into illegal firearms.
Springfield Police Spokesperson Ryan Walsh said the Firearms Investigation Unit has been investigating 19-year-old Jamian Velez-Berrios of Chicopee for possession of illegal firearms for the past several months. On Saturday, officers were granted a search warrant to search his home on Andrew Street in Springfield.
Around 2:30 a.m. when officers were preparing to execute the search warrant, they saw Velez-Berrios another man, later identified as 31-year-old Carlos Dejesus of Holyoke, get into a car and a woman drove them away. Detectives conducted a traffic stop at the intersection of State and Main Streets and found a firearm with a Glock switch, which turns the gun into an automatic firearm, loaded with 16 rounds of ammunition on Dejesus.
Police seized more than 180 rounds of various ammunition, four large-capacity magazines, around 2.5 grams of cocaine, approximately 35 grams of heroin, approximately 10 pounds of marijuana, and $2,200.
Jamian Velez-Berrios is charged with the following:
- Possession of a Machine Gun
- Possession of Ammunition with an FID Card
- Possession of a High-Capacity Magazine/Feeding Device (Four Counts)
- Trafficking in 18-36 Grams (Heroin)
- Possession with the Intent to Distribute a Class D Drug
Carlos Dejesus has prior convictions from an August 2011 Holyoke Homicide where he pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter, armed assault with the intent to rob and two firearms charges.
He is now charged with the following:
- Possession of a Loaded Machine Gun
- Firearm Violation with Three Prior Violent/Drug Crimes
- Possession of a Firearm without an FID Card – Subsequent Offense
- Convicted Felon in Possession of a Firearm
