Fresno Man, 28, Gets Over Six Years for Ghost Gun Ammunition Possession

Felipe Macias, 28, of Fresno, was sentenced Thursday to six years and five months in prison by U.S. District Judge Kirk E. Sherriff for being a felon in possession of ammunition, federal prosecutors announced.

Court documents show that in August 2024, Macias was observed on a city bus in Fresno with the grip of a firearm protruding from his waistband. Undercover officers converged on Macias in a smoke shop, where they recovered a black "ghost gun," a privately manufactured, un-serialized firearm loaded with a high-capacity magazine.

The formal charge was being a felon in possession of ammunition loaded in an unregistered, privately manufactured firearm commonly referred to as a ghost gun. At the time of his arrest, Macias was a previously convicted felon on post-release community supervision. He pleaded guilty on September 29, 2025.

The investigation was conducted by the Fresno Police Department, the Selma Police Department, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Veneman-Hughes prosecuted the case.

Ghost guns have drawn increasing federal scrutiny in the Central Valley. Because they are privately manufactured and carry no serial number, they are untraceable by law enforcement, complicating investigations after they are used in crimes. Earlier this week, a separate Fresno man was sentenced to 12 years in federal prison for illegally possessing ammunition loaded in an un-serialized firearm in connection with a fatal shooting, underscoring the pattern of ghost gun prosecutions emerging out of the Eastern District of California.

Macias's six-year, five-month sentence was handed down March 19, 2026, in federal court in Fresno.