Federal Jury Convicts Chinese National Jincheng Shi of Aiding Unlicensed Firearms Dealing; He Faces Up to 15 Years
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Florida announced on December 22, 2025, that a federal jury has found Jincheng Shi, a national of China, guilty of aiding and abetting unlicensed firearms dealing and of possession of a firearm as an alien admitted to the United States under a nonimmigrant visa. Shi, 28, of St. Cloud in Osceola County, Florida, faces a maximum penalty of 15 years in federal prison, and his sentencing hearing is scheduled for March 9, 2026. U.S. Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe announced the verdict.
According to testimony and evidence presented at trial, Shi was admitted to the United States under a nonimmigrant work visa in 2022, placing him in a prohibited class of persons not legally allowed to possess firearms. He then operated a firearms parts business, selling various firearms parts and accessories at gun shows and out of a rented storage unit. Codefendants Victor Lafontaine and Jose Maldonado were among his customers; they assembled the parts into completed firearms and sold them without the required federal firearms license. The trial evidence also showed that Lafontaine sold firearms to prohibited persons, including convicted felons.
On February 20, 2025, federal agents executing a search warrant at Shi's home found multiple firearms. Shi was indicted on September 3, 2025, and was originally charged with six other individuals, including Lafontaine and Maldonado, as part of a gun trafficking operation; his six codefendants pleaded guilty and either have been sentenced or are awaiting sentencing.
The case was investigated by the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, with assistance from the Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation, the Orange County Sheriff's Office, the Orlando Police Department and other agencies, and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Risha Asokan. It is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods, the Justice Department's violent-crime reduction program.
Source: U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Florida
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：位于美国华盛顿的美国司法部总部罗伯特·肯尼迪大楼（资料照片）。APK 摄，CC BY 4.0，经 Wikimedia Commons；联邦固定图库标准图。 / Photo: The Robert F. Kennedy Building, headquarters of the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington (file photo). Photo by APK, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons; federal fixed-library image.
