Three facing federal gun charges

14 weapons, including machine gun, confiscated

Two Mexican nationals and a local man, arrested last month by Bernalillo County Sheriffs deputies on charges of possessing stolen firearms, are now facing federal charges including possession of a machine gun.

Last August deputies arrived at domestic disturbance call at Foothill and Amalia Road SW when a black GMC pickup truck pulled away from the scene.

Deputies followed and attempted to pull the truck over when it violated several traffic laws. The truck drove on for several blocks until the driver finally pulled over.

When Deputy Mitchell Skroch approached the driver’s side door of the pickup he saw the driver was wearing body armor with a 30 round AR-15 magazine attached to his chest plate of the armor.

The driver didn’t speak English, so deputies called for a bilingual deputy to help out.

Everyone in the truck was cooperative, according to criminal complaints filed in state and federal court.

The driver, Jesus Samaniego-Villa, 25, had no driver’s license and according to court records told deputies there was some cocaine in the truck.

The deputies could see what looked like eight firearms in the back seat. They later counted 14 rifles and handguns, $33,289 in cash, hundreds of rounds of ammunition, night vision goggles and assorted magazines and gun parts.

Two of the firearms came back as stolen when deputies ran a computer check.

One of the stolen weapons, a Rogg10 Arsenal RA-15, was fully automatic, according to criminal complaints filed in the case.

Samaniego-Villa, Jesus Christian Meza-Samaniego, 20, and Daniel Landeros Garcia, 27, of Albuquerque, were initially charged with drug possession and possession of stolen firearms in state court.

The state charges were dropped after federal charges were filed.

Samaniego-Villa and Landeros Garcia are charged in a federal indictment with possession of a machine gun which carries a potential sentence of five to 10 years in federal prison.

Samaniego-Villa and Meza-Samaniego, who told Metropolitan Detention Center intake officers that they were homeless, are also charged with being unlawfully in the United States and possessing firearms and ammunition which can carry a 10-year federal prison term.

Meza-Samaniego also is charged with being in the country after being deported in July 2017.

They are being held without bond on the federal charges.