BOSTON, August 10, 2018— An alleged career criminal was found guilty yesterday of possessing a high capacity firearm that he handed to an associate just minutes before the second man’s arrest, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said.

A Suffolk Superior Court jury yesterday convicted ALIDIO BARBOSA, 21, of unlawful possession of a firearm, unlawful possession of ammunition, possession of a firearm with a defaced serial number, possession of a large capacity feeding device, and possession with intent to distribute a Class D substance. He faces a second trial later this month on a charge of being a Level I Armed Career Criminal, which could open Barbosa to an enhanced sentence based on two prior convictions for assault with a dangerous weapon.

“Illegal firearms like this one present the greatest public safety threat in Boston and almost every major city,” Conley said. “With our partners at Boston Police, we won’t relent on locating them, taking them off the street, and prosecuting those who carry and use them.”

During the course of Barbosa’s trial this week, Assistant District Attorney Caitlin Fitzgerald of the DA’s Gang Unit presented evidence and testimony to prove that Boston Police officers assigned to the department’s Youth Violence Strike Force observed Barbosa, whom they knew from prior interactions, walking on Dudley Street with two other men on Sept. 11, 2017. The group looked toward the officers and then entered a pizza shop.

Seconds later, one of the men, later identified as JOAO FERNANDES, walked back outside holding his waistband and with his hood pulled up despite a temperature of 79 degrees. After observing officers watching him, Fernandes turned onto West Cottage Street and began to run – never taking his hand from his waistband. He was stopped by officers, and a Glock 27 .40 caliber firearm with a high capacity magazine was found in his waistband.

A magazine that can accept more than 10 rounds of ammunition is high-capacity under Massachusetts law; the firearm recovered from Fernandes was loaded with one round in the chamber and 17 rounds in the magazine, the evidence proved.

Security video from inside the pizza shop showed that Barbosa had handed the gun to Fernandes. That firearm was later ballistically matched to a series of shots fired and non-fatal shootings in and around Upham’s Corner last year. Those incidents remain under investigation.

In May, Fernandes pleaded guilty to firearm charges and received a term of 18 months in the house of correction, followed by a period of probation.

Barbosa was represented by attorney Andrew Stockwell-Alpert. He returns to court Aug. 30 for trial on the Armed Career Criminal indictment before Suffolk Superior Court Judge Beverly Cannone.

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All defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.