SHREVEPORT, La. - United States Attorney Brandon B. Brown announced that Evaristo Contreras-Silva, 49, of Haughton, Louisiana, has been found guilty by a jury in United States District Court in Shreveport of possession of a firearm by an illegal alien. The jury returned the guilty verdict yesterday afternoon. United States District Judge Elizabeth E. Foote presided over the two-day trial.
Contreras-Silva was indicted on March 9, 2022 for illegally possessing a firearm while residing illegally in the United States. The facts at trial established that Contreras-Silva, a citizen of Mexico, entered the United States on a date unknown, but the Bossier Parish Sheriff’s Office encountered him in Haughton, Louisiana in February 2022 when it arrested Contreras-Silva for domestic abuse battery of a pregnant victim. The Bossier Parish Sheriff’s Office notified the Department of Homeland Security and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives that it had arrested Contreras-Silva and that it believed he had a firearm in his truck. After that, federal agents searched Contreras-Silva’s truck and residence, discovering a loaded 9mm pistol and multiple rounds of 5.56 ammunition.
Contreras-Silva faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, and a fine of up to $250,000. Sentencing has been set for Dec. 13, 2022 at 9:30 a.m.
The case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Department of Homeland Security - Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and Bossier Parish Sheriff’s Office and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Leon H. Whitten and William Gaskins.