Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero, the WBC welterweight champion who is set to face Floyd Mayweather on May 4 in the biggest fight of his life, was arrested at John F. Kennedy International Airport on Thursday for declaring an empty handgun that was allegedly unlicensed.
According to the Port Authority police, Guerrero “was arrested after declaring an empty–but unlicensed–.40 caliber semi-automatic pistol while trying to fly to Las Vegas.” He was in New York to promote his upcoming fight.
Guerrero, according to reports, was awaiting arraignment on Thursday and could face four years in prison if convicted of criminal possession of a firearm.
The boxer known as “The Ghost” has only lost once in his career in 33 fights. Mayweather is undefeated in 43 fights.
UPDATE: Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown said he hoped Guerrero “fights better than he thinks.” He said Guerrero is “charged with one count of criminal possession of a firearm and three counts of third-degree criminal possession of a weapon” and has a May 14 court date.
“For anyone who hasn’t gotten the message, let me be crystal clear. You cannot bring an unlicensed weapon — loaded or unloaded — into this county or this city. And if you do you will be arrested and face felony charges,” Brown said. “Earlier this year, New York State enacted the nation’s toughest gun restrictions — the New York Secure Ammunition and Firearms Enforcement Act of 2013. One provision of that law is that the penalty for possessing an unloaded firearm is raised from being a Class A misdemeanor to being a Class E felony.”
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, exploited the Sandy Hook tragedy to ram through the gun law Brown referenced.
According to the charges, “Guerrero presented a locked gun box to a Delta Airlines ticket agent at about 6:46 a.m. ET as he checked in for his flight, and it contained an unloaded Smith & Wesson M&P .40-caliber handgun and three unloaded magazines with the capacity to hold 15 rounds of ammunition. At that point, police were called.”
ESPN reports Guerrero “told authorities that he possessed the unloaded firearm when he arrived in New York from Virginia on Monday.” Guerrero reportedly “has a permit to carry a gun in California, but is not licensed in New York.”
Guerrero, who is from Gilroy, CA and is a devout Christian, had gone to Norfolk, Virginia to appear on the “700 Club” with Pat Robertson earlier in the week. He was in the New York area to do promotional interviews for the fight with outlets like ESPN.
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