BOSTON — A Lynn man has been convicted of trying to persuade a witness not to testify against him at a federal gun trial, the U.S. attorney's office in Massachusetts said Monday.

Charlie Vick, 37, was found guilty of one count of attempted witness tampering after a five-day jury trial, prosecutors said. The jury could not reach a unanimous verdict on a second count, being a felon in possession of a firearm, and a hung jury was declared on that charge. A grand jury had returned both counts in March 2024. No sentencing date has been set. Attempted witness tampering carries up to 20 years in prison.

According to prosecutors, Vick was first indicted in April 2023 on a charge of possessing a gun as a convicted felon after police said they found a firearm in a car he had been driving in Uxbridge. That case was set for trial in January 2024 in U.S. District Court in Worcester, and the government planned to call a witness identified in court records only as Person 1.

While held at the Donald W. Wyatt Detention Facility awaiting trial, Vick repeatedly messaged Person 1 and told the person not to testify, prosecutors said. On Nov. 12, 2023, he asked whether Person 1 was "going to help them put me away," according to the office. Prosecutors said he later wrote that the government needed Person 1 to tie the gun found in the car to photos that, according to the evidence, showed Vick holding firearms, and that without them "they have no case."

On Dec. 28, 2023, prosecutors said, Vick offered to pay the witness to stay away, writing, "If I have to pay you to stay away lmk," and asking the person to pack a bag and leave for two days.

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