Tsarnaev pal pleads not guilty in drug, gun case

FILE - This Nov. 21, 2013 Massachusetts Bay Transit Police file booking photo provided by the Dorchester District Court in Boston shows Stephen Sergio Silva, after he was arrested and charged with selling marijuana at a Boston train station. Silva, a friend of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, is in federal court in Boston Wednesday, Aug. 6, 2014 on charges of heroin trafficking and possession of a handgun with an obliterated serial number. (AP Photo/Massachusetts Bay Transit Police, File) FILE - This Nov. 21, 2013 Massachusetts Bay Transit Police file booking photo provided by the Dorchester District Court in Boston shows Stephen Sergio Silva, after he was arrested and charged with selling marijuana at a Boston train station. Silva, a friend of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, is in federal court in Boston Wednesday, Aug. 6, 2014 on charges of heroin trafficking and possession of a handgun with an obliterated serial number. (AP Photo/Massachusetts Bay Transit Police, File)

By Associated Press August 6, 2014 1 min read

BOSTON (AP) – A friend of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev (joh-HAHR’ tsahr-NEYE’-ehv) has pleaded not guilty to charges of trafficking heroin and possessing an illegal handgun.

Stephen Silva of Cambridge, Massachusetts, appeared in federal court in Boston on Wednesday.

Authorities believe Silva provided Tsarnaev and his brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, with the handgun used to kill Massachusetts Institute of Technology police officer Sean Collier during the manhunt following last year’s bombing.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev was killed in a shootout with police several days after the bombings.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was found later hiding in a boat. He has pleaded not guilty in the bombings.