Criminal charges dropped against Sewickley father who remains detained by ICE
Gun charges filed against a Sewickley man shortly before he was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement have been dropped by the Allegheny County district attorney.
Bruno Guedes da Silva - a Brazilian father whose 6-year-old daughter is battling cancer - remains in detention at Moshannon Valley Processing Center in Central Pa. as he awaits a bond hearing scheduled for Monday.
A pair of gun-related charges were filed against Mr. da Silva one month before he was arrested by ICE in February in Glen Osborne as he drove to work with his wife.
Those charges stemmed from a form that Mr. da Silva signed while trying to purchase a handgun at a McCandless firearm store in July 2024.
On the form, Mr. da Silva - who has a Social Security number, work authorization, a driver's license and a pending asylum case - answered "no" to a question asking if he was in the country illegally.
Mr. da Silva was denied permission to purchase the firearm and a spokesperson for the Pennsylvania State Police, which monitors gun purchases, said PSP sent the denial information to the McCandless Police Department in October 2024.
The McCandless Police Department filed charges against Mr. da Silva in January 2026.
The same day the charges were filed, the officer who filed the criminal complaint consulted with ICE and was told by an immigration official that Mr. da Silva was in the country illegally, according to court documents.
"He was not in the country illegally," Mr. da Silva's attorney Thomas Farrell said. "The statute says as soon as you file an asylum petition, you are allowed to be in this country and not illegal … [the officer] contacted an ICE agent and ICE says, ‘Oh yeah, he's an illegal alien,' and that's their probable cause."
ICE did not respond to an inquiry seeking comment on the withdrawal of the criminal charges. The McCandless Police Department did not respond to multiple calls seeking comment.
Mr. Farrell said the question on the firearm form is unclear and his client did not knowingly lie on the form.
"He's allowed to be here, so he's not an illegal alien," Mr. Farrell said. "He's got a driver's license, he's got a Social Security card, the federal government allowed him to work. He has all the trappings of someone allowed to be here, so he's not now an illegal alien."
After the charges were filed, Mr. Farrell said he reached out to Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen Zappala's office and the prosecutor ultimately decided to drop the charges against Mr. da Silva.
"It was my understanding that it was Stephen Zappala's ultimate decision … and they decided, in the best interest of justice, they would withdraw the charges against my client."
Mr. da Silva filed a habeas corpus petition to be released in late March. Filing writ of habeas corpus requires a judge to weigh the legality of a prisoner's confinement. In response to the federal government's immigration crackdown, hundreds have been filing habeas petitions from Moshannon.
On April 1, Federal Judge Nicholas Ranjan ordered that Mr. da Silva be given a bond hearing. That is scheduled to take place on Monday.
Hadley Haas, who has been acting as a spokesperson for Mr. da Silva's family, said they are cautiously optimistic about the bond hearing, especially after the gun charges were dropped.
"It's the best news we had in a while," she said. "We're hoping and praying for the best result."
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This story was originally published April 10, 2026 at 3:39 PM.