S.A. man, girlfriend face cartel gun charges
A San Antonio-area man and his girlfriend are facing federal gun charges for allegedly buying several machine-gun variants for a cartel in Mexico.
Edgar Raul Moreno and Leyra Jeanette Rodriguez, who are in their 20s, appeared in federal court Thursday after being arrested by agents with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
The agency investigated them after a gun dealer flagged the woman’s purchase of an Ohio Ordnance
M240-SLR belt-fed rifle this summer.
Such guns are fed ammo with a belt, and are supported by a tripod. While the ones purchased were semiautomatic, they can be easily converted to full automatic to fire like a machine gun, an official with Ohio Ordnance explained on a Youtube video, noting they are coveted by former military members who used similar weapons in war.
ATF agents linked the pair to more than 20 beltfed guns, including one recovered by police in Sinaloa that Moreno bought in Texas, according to court records. The documents do not say when that gun was recovered.
Mexico continues to struggle with guns being used by criminal gangs, despite its prohibitive laws against firearms. Those laws have not stopped scores of weapons from being used on its streets. About 70 percent of guns used in crimes in Mexico that are seized and traced originated in the United States.
The Mexican government sued several American gunmakers and distributors in federal court in Boston earlier this month, seeking damages caused by illicit weapons.
Texas continues to be a big source for firearms, as cartels send recruiters to look for U.S. citizens with no criminal backgrounds to make “straw purchases” of guns, which are collected by facilitators for transport.
In the local case, agents moved in after Rodriguez showed up at a San Antonioarea gun dealer, which was not identified by the ATF, to pick up the rifle. They learned Rodriguez had bought a similar M240-SLR gun two weeks before and paid $32,000 for them using several money orders.
After further investigation, they also found Moreno had ordered a similar rifle, an FNH model M249S, and arrested him after he picked it up. He admitted to agents that he was a buyer for the cartel, and records show his gun buys included several FNH model M249S rifles and multiple DSA Inc. model RPD rifles, an ATF affidavit said.
“Moreno stated that approximately one year ago, he began purchasing firearms for the Sinaloa Cartel in exchange for approximately $1,000-$4,000 per firearm purchased,” the affidavit said. “Moreno estimated he purchased approximately 20 firearms for the cartel in the past year.”
He told agents that he received instructions via Whatsapp and met a runner at a local gas station to hand over the weapons.
Moreno is charged with illegally smuggling goods out of the United States and Rodriguez is charged with making false statements on firearm purchase forms. The pair appeared via Zoom on Thursday for preliminary hearings, but each waived the proceedings, opting not to challenge the evidence against them at this time.
Rodriguez told U.S. Magistrate Judge Richard Farrer that she has “nothing to say to (Moreno) anymore” when the judge ordered each not to discuss the case with each other.