Feds accuse Doral dealer of selling unregistered machine guns, automatic-fire ‘switches’
A federally licensed gun-shop owner and his employee were charged Friday with making illegal cash sales of unregistered machine guns, silencers and other devices and with failing to do background checks on buyers.
Manuel Regueira, 50, owner of Miami Gun Shop in Doral, 6020 NW 99th Ave., and employee Andersen Rabel, 38, made their first appearance in Miami federal court after their arrests Thursday.
At a hearing Friday, Magistrate Judge Lisette Reid found that Regueira is a danger to the community and ordered that he be detained before trial. Rabel’s detention hearing is set for Tuesday.
Both defendants are accused of selling a dozen fully automatic short-barreled rifles, AR-style pistols and silencers without serial numbers to a buyer in illicit cash deals for thousands of dollars, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
The buyer was a federal undercover agent who went to the gun shop and dealt with both Regueira and Rabel, according to a criminal complaint affidavit. Regueira, the shop owner, used the code word “Toyota” for firearms.
The affidavit further alleges that Regueira sold illegal “switches,” devices that can convert a firearm into an automatic weapon by allowing it to expel more than one bullet with the single pull of the trigger.
Agents with Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives began the undercover operation in September after arresting a suspect who told them that he had purchased automatic-fire “switches” from a guy named “Manny” at the Miami Gun Shop, referring to the owner, Regueira, the affidavit says. The undercover agent discussed buying more switches from Regueira, who told him that “they’re hard to get” but then said, “I have fifty coming soon.” Regueira told the agent to call weekly but not to “talk too much on the phone.”
The affidavit also alleges that Regueira and his employee, Rabel, failed to complete federally required paperwork on the undercover buyer, who went by the name “Rod,” including background checks and checking identifications.
Both defendants are charged with possession of an unregistered firearm, unlawful transfer of a firearm, and conspiracy involving several weapons sales violations. If convicted, they face up to 10 years in prison.
Online state records say Regueira registered Extreme Guns & Ammo in 2012 at 9016 NW 25th St., across the street from Miami-Dade Police headquarters, then changed the name to Extreme Police Supply in 2013. He dissolved that company on Sept. 23, 2016.
Nine months earlier, Jan. 13, 2016, he first registered Miami Gun Shop. State records say Regueira used his home address on Southwest 82nd Street as the principal place of business. After not filing an annual report with the state in 2017, Regueira reinstated Miami Gun Shop with the place of business as its current address, 6020 NW 99th Ave.
The case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives along with the U.S. Marshals Service and local police departments — a collaborative effort of the Project Safe Neighborhoods program that aims to reduce violent crime.
The case against the federally licensed gun-shop owner and his employee is unusual. Normally, U.S. authorities bring firearms charges against straw buyers who lie about purchasing weapons for themselves from legitimate dealers and then resell them to local criminals or export them to foreign gangs at inflated prices.
Herald Staff Writer David J. Neal contributed to this report.
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