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Department of Justice

U.S. Attorney's Office
Western District of New York
James P. Kennedy Jr., United States Attorney
Contact: Barbara Burns
www.justice.gov/usao-wdny
For Immediate Release
Tuesday, June 23, 2020

Rochester Man Going to Prison for Nearly 15 Years for Stealing Over 90 Guns From Chinappi’s Gun Store

ROCHESTER, N.Y. - U.S. Attorney James P. Kennedy, Jr. announced today that Dakota J. Sarfaty, 22, of Rochester, NY, who was convicted of theft of firearms from a Federal Firearms Licensee and possession of stolen firearms, was sentenced to serve 175 months in prison by U.S. District Judge Elizabeth A. Wolford. Sarfaty was also ordered to pay $41,500 in restitution to August Chinappi, the victim of the burglary and the former owner of Chinappi’s Firearms & Supplies.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Brett A. Harvey, who handled the case, stated that Sarfaty, along with co-defendants Luis D. Marcano-Agosto and Marcos D. Guzman, broke into Chinappi’s Firearms & Supplies, a gun store located at 5016 West Ridge Road in Spencerport, NY, in the early morning hours of August 16, 2018. Sarfaty entered the basement through a hole in the wall and, together with Marcano-Agosto and Guzman, stole approximately 87 firearms, almost all of which were handguns. Guzman, Sarfaty and Marcano-Agosto then sold many of the firearms on the streets of Rochester. Investigators recovered 14 of the stolen firearms in the days after the theft. Sarafty also broke into Chinappi’s Firearms & Supplies and stole approximately seven firearms on August 12, 2018.

To date, 31 of the stolen firearms have been recovered, while law enforcement authorities are yet to account for 63 stolen firearms.

Co-defendants Marcano-Agosto and Guzman were previously convicted and are awaiting sentencing.

The sentencing is the result of an investigation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge John B. Devito, New York Field Division; the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, under the direction of Sheriff Todd Baxter; and the Rochester Police Department, under the direction of Chief La’Ron Singletary.

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