Man found with ‘arsenal’ in truck gets 5 years
Jesus Samaniego-Villa, 25, will then be deported to Mexico
One of three men arrested by Bernalillo County sheriff’s deputies with an “arsenal” of firearms, including an automatic rifle and other militarystyle equipment in the rear seat of their pickup truck, was sentenced to more than five years in federal prison and deportation to Mexico after completion of his prison time.
Senior U.S. District Judge James A. Park- er sentenced Jesus Samaniego-Villa to 70 months after a hearing during which defense attorney Joseph Sullivan challenged conclusions made in a pre-sentencing report about how many
firearms in the truck should be attributed to Samaniego.
Sullivan argued that Samaniego should receive a two-year prison sentence, while prosecutors sought a term of more than seven years.
Samaniego’s attorney asked Parker for a lighter sentence because Samaniego, who was in the country illegally, would be deported to Mexico after his release from prison and was not likely to become a repeat offender.
Samaniego, 25, was driving the pickup truck when it was stopped near Coors SW after a deputy saw the truck driving over a solid white line.
Samaniego was driving but didn’t have a driver’s license and was wearing body armor with a 30-round AR-15 magazine attached to the chest plate of the armor.
A search of the truck revealed a fully automatic Rogg10 Arsenal RA-15 rifle, 13 other rifles and handguns, cash, hundreds of rounds of ammunition, night vision goggles, and assorted magazines and gun parts.
Deputies also found magazines for various types of firearms, two ballistic Kevlar helmets, a gas mask, an electronic wire detection device (to detect covert recordings) and two airsoft-type flashbang grenades.
They also found statuettes of Santa Muerte and Jesús Malverde, known as the patron saints of drug trafficking, along with $33,289 in cash, $3,580 of which was in the front center console.
Federal prosecutors argued that the cash represented the profits from drug transactions, although no one was charged with narcotics violations in the case.
The two passengers in the pickup — Daniel Landeros-Garcia, 27, and Christian Meza-Samaniego, 25 — have also pleaded guilty to charges in the case and are awaiting sentencing.
Attorneys for the men challenged the legality of the traffic stop and the subsequent search of the truck in an attempt to get the evidence thrown out.
Judge Parker ruled that the stop and subsequent search were legal. The guilty pleas were filed after Parker’s ruling.