ICE HSI investigation leads to Lehigh county father and son charged with unlawful possession of more than a dozen machine guns and nearly as many silencers

 PHILADELPHIA — An investigation by U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) led to the arrest and charge of Joseph Raymond Berger, 67, and Joseph Paul Berger, 32, of Bethlehem, PA, this week with multiple firearms offenses including possessing machine guns, possessing non-registered firearms, and possessing non-registered silencers.

The indictment alleges that the defendants illegally possessed 13 fully automatic machine guns and 12 firearms silencers. According to court documents, law enforcement agents with Customs and Border Protection intercepted three firearms silencers that were illegally imported into the United States in packages addressed to the defendants at their shared residence. Investigators then obtained a search warrant for the home and recovered from the basement the 12 firearms suppressors/silencers and 13 fully automatic machine guns that are listed in the indictment. The machine guns included 11 rifles and 2 submachine guns. Read more at: https://www.ice.gov/news/releases/ice-hsi-investigation-leads-lehigh-county-father-and-son-charged-unlawful-possession

Contact Darren Heyman, immigration attorney, for more information.