By MIKE DONOGHUE
Vermont News First
BURLINGTON, Vt. — An international fugitive, who is wanted on a child rape charge in Brazil and has lived in the United States unlawfully for more than four years, has been arrested in Windsor County on federal firearms charges after a series of gun incidents, officials said this week.
Gabriel Lopes Da Silva Santos, 27, of Brazil, is charged with felony unlawful possession of an AR-15 style rifle as an alien, according to a criminal complaint filed in federal court by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
The charge stems from a shooting incident at the Black River Overlook Apartment Complex in Ludlow on June 9, 2024, U.S. District Court records show.
The ATF said Ludlow Police found the semiautomatic rifle when they responded to a complaint by a neighbor for shots fired behind the apartment complex at 161 Rublee Lane.
Law enforcement found Santos along with others having a barbecue and he claimed ownership of the AR-15 style rifle, the ATF said. They said he also surrendered a shotgun that also had been fired at the scene.
Ludlow Police seized the two guns, two magazines for firearms and 15 rounds of .556-caliber ammunition, records show.
While Santos was talking with Ludlow Police, a woman listed by the ATF in court papers as “A.T.” came out of apartment 16 and handed an infant child to him as he smiled, according to body-worn camera footage. Santos refers to “A.T.” as his wife, records show.
No state charges were filed, and Santos was allowed to retrieve his seized property the following day from Ludlow Police. He told police he had bought the two firearms from a friend, court records note.
A subsequent investigation revealed Santos had come to the United States on a six-month visa on March 16, 2020, and was required to leave by September 2020. There is no record that Santos ever left the United States and returned to Brazil, which has a pending warrant for “Rape of a Vulnerable Person,” federal court records show.
During a court-ordered search this week, the ATF said they found four guns at the apartment when federal agents, assisted by Ludlow Police, arrested Santos at his residence in Ludlow, records show.
A woman, identified as Alexis Curry, has started a GoFundMe page to raise money for his defense. She identified Santos as her partner and they were home with their daughter during the 6 a.m. Wednesday raid, the website noted.
The raid followed ATF cross-checking a series of other incidents involving Santos, including his attempt to illegally purchase a .270 bolt-action rifle from Runnings Supply in Claremont, New Hampshire, on Nov. 13, 2023, court records show.
Santos was denied the rifle when the National Instant Criminal Background Check System showed he was an illegal alien, court records show. There was no indication of any follow-up by police in New Hampshire.
Police surveillance and other investigative techniques indicated Santos lived in apartment 16 at 161 Rublee Lane with a woman known as “A.T.” and their child, the ATF said. However, Santos lists apartment 11 as his official residence, including on his Vermont driver’s license and the federal form used to try to buy the firearm.
Apartment 11 is where “A.T.’s” mother lives and some of “A.T.’s” younger siblings move freely between apartments 11 and 16, the ATF said.
“I know from training and experience that those in the United States illegally will sometimes use a mailing address that is different from their physical address to avoid detection by immigration officers,” said ATF Task Force Agent James F. Loomis.
During an initial federal court hearing, Magistrate Judge Kevin J. Doyle ordered Santos detained this week pending resolution of the case.
Santos is both a danger to the community and has a strong incentive to flee because of the outstanding felony warrant in his native Brazil, Assistant U.S. Attorney Joshua L. Banker said in court papers.
Banker said Santos, if convicted, faces up to 15 years of imprisonment and deportation. He is detained at the Northwest State Correctional Facility in St. Albans.
Santos freely admitted after his arrest that he was in the United States illegally, records show.
Doyle agreed to provide Santos a probable cause hearing on April 29, unless a federal grand jury indicts him in the interim.
The court provided Santos with a defense lawyer at taxpayer expense.
One of the four seized firearms is the same make and model that Santos had unsuccessfully tried to buy at the Claremont, New Hampshire, store, Banker said.
Loomis, the task force agent, said Santos appeared to have provided multiple false answers on the federal ATF purchase form at the Claremont store that he was required to sign when trying to buy the rifle.
Among the false claims on the form by Santos was that he lived at apartment 11, and that he also checked the box saying he was an American citizen, the ATF said.
He also checked the “no box” when asked if he was an alien illegally or unlawfully in the United States, records show.
Santos also left blank two boxes that said U.S. citizens/nationals could leave blank for two questions, said Loomis, who is employed by the U.S. Border Patrol Intelligence Division.
The criminal investigation also revealed Santos had posted a “trophy photo” on Facebook showing him with a dead deer and possessing the AR-15 rifle on his lap on Nov. 18, 2024, the ATF said. He exchanged comments about the gun and its ownership on Facebook.
Vermont Fish and Wildlife records also show Santos claimed he lived at apartment 11 at 161 Rublee Lane in Ludlow when he applied for his hunting license in October 2024. He also used that address when he filed his harvesting report at Singleton’s Store in Proctorsville that he used a rifle to shoot the 104-pound deer, records show.
Loomis consulted with ATF Special Agent Eric Brimo, an expert on tracing firearms, to determine the gun was made outside Vermont and had crossed state lines.
The criminal case is part of Operation Take Back America a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), the U.S. Attorney’s office in Vermont said.
It also is designed to protect communities from the perpetrators of violent crime.
Operation Take Back streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETFs) and Project Safe Neighborhood (PSN).
Project Safe Neighborhoods is a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence to make neighborhoods safer for everyone.
