AZMEX EXTRA 19 NOV 2017
Five men receive sentences for smuggling firearms into Mexico
Laredo Morning Times
Published 12:36 am, Sunday, November 19, 2017
http://www.lmtonline.com/local/article/Five-men-receive-sentences-for-smuggling-firearms-12369121.php
IMAGE 1 OF 12 File photo of court room gavel. gavel
Five Laredoans have been ordered to prison following their convictions for their roles in smuggling firearms into Mexico.
Juan Diego Madrid, 27,
Rolando Armando Madrid, 21,
Erik Villasana, 20,
Edward Alexander Duenas, 20, and
Francisco Xavier Martinez, 25,
participated in a scheme to purchase civilian variants of firearms issued to military forces from various local firearms dealers.
Between March 2016 and November 2016, Juan Madrid directed several individuals,
including Rolando Madrid, Duenas and Martinez, to purchase the firearms.
The firearms were then transferred to Villasana, who arranged for the firearms to be smuggled into Mexico.
U.S. District Judge Diana Saldaña sentenced Juan Madrid to a term of 65 months in federal prison,
while his brother Rolando Madrid, Villasana, Duenas and Martinez received respective sentences
of 51, 63, 27 and 41 months in prison.
The straw purchasers bought AR-15 and
AK-47-type semiautomatic rifles,
Beretta 92FS (Pistols) and
DPMS AR-type rifles
from Academy and Kirkpatrick Guns & Ammo stores in Laredo and San Antonio.
Juan Madrid would then purchase the firearms from the straw purchasers and then re-sell them at a profit to Villasana.
Villasana told federal agents that he had established contact with Rolando Madrid through Facebook.
Madrid sold Villasana a rifle for $1,100 and told him he could get more firearms.
Villasana said that he told one of his friends in Mexico, who works for a cartel, about the firearms.
That friend asked Villasana to buy more firearms for Madrid.
"Rolando Madrid's brother, Juan 'El Padrino' Madrid, called Villasana back and said he could get Villasana anything he wanted, including firearms and grenades," court records states.
Villasana would sell the firearms to his friend and contact in Mexico for $1,300 to $1,400.
The contact would send different people from Nuevo Laredo, Mexico to pick up the firearms from Villasana
in Laredo and then smuggle them to Mexico.
Villasana would meet the smugglers at a downtown McDonald's parking lot in Laredo.
RELATED: Convicted felons busted with firearms, marijuana yards away from Laredo high school
Juan Madrid was already a convicted felon and prohibited from purchasing, owning or possessing firearms.
His brother, Ruben Madrid, was also involved in the scheme as a straw purchaser.
He will be sentenced at a later date.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations conducted the investigation.
Assistant U.S. attorney Homero Ramirez and special assistant U.S. attorney Lisa Ezra are prosecuting the case.
END
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