On April 18, 2025, Marcel Pierre Denis, a 58-year-old attorney and administrative officer from New York, pleaded guilty to charges of attempting to smuggle firearms from Miami, Florida, to Haiti. The charges stemmed from incidents in April and October 2022.
Denis admitted that in April 2022, law enforcement found an AR-15-style semiautomatic rifle, a magazine, and ammunition in a box destined for Haiti. During an inspection at a Miami-Dade County shipping warehouse, Denis was identified as the shipper. In a May 2022 interview, Denis confirmed he attempted to ship the items without the necessary export license.
In a similar incident in October 2022, a semiautomatic pistol wrapped in duct tape was discovered inside a coffee container, also intended for shipment to Haiti. Denis was again identified as the shipper and confirmed purchase records for the pistol. In a November 2022 interview, he acknowledged his plans to send the firearms to an associate in Haiti for protection of a retail business.
Denis, a licensed attorney and administrative hearing officer in New York, was aware of the requirement for an export license to ship firearms or ammunition to Haiti. The case is presided over by U.S. District Judge Jose E. Martinez, and Denis faces a maximum of ten years in prison for each count. Sentencing is scheduled for July 7, 2025, and will be determined after a review of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and related factors.
The guilty plea was announced by U.S. Attorney Hayden P. O'Byrne for the Southern District of Florida and Acting Special Agent in Charge José R. Figueroa of Homeland Security Investigations in Miami. The investigation was conducted by Homeland Security Investigations, with Customs and Border Protection providing assistance. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Sterling M. Paulson.
The case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods, which aims to reduce gun violence and violent crime by fostering community trust, supporting prevention efforts, setting focused enforcement priorities, and measuring outcomes. For further details on Project Safe Neighborhoods, more information is available at Justice.gov/PSN.
Court documents and related information can be accessed on the District Court for the Southern District of Florida's website or through pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov using case number 25-cr-20139.