Houston man sentenced for smuggling guns to Mexico
Posted: Sat Mar 28, 2009 9:49 pm
The one point missing in this article is how the system worked in this case. Since his name apparently came up in an inspection in 2007, I'd guess the later purchased were "allowed" to happen in order to gather additional evidence. Just love how this guy's attorney tries to deflect attention on his client and says the government should be looking at gun shows, stores and manufacturers.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/met ... 46248.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
A gun trafficker convicted of buying weapons in Houston to arm Mexican drug cartels was sentenced Friday to four years in prison — a forewarning of the U.S. government’s escalating war on narco-violence.
The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said Juan Pablo Gutierrez was a “prolific” purchaser among a group of 23 arms traffickers who bought at least 339 firearms for Mexican organized crime syndicates in 2006 and 2007.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark White told U.S. District Judge Gray Miller Friday that Gutierrez wasn’t supplying common thugs on Mexico’s streets, but “arming an infantry squad.”
His sentencing comes as the Obama administration is bolstering its efforts to stem the flow of U.S. guns ending up in the hands of powerful drug trafficking gangs waging war against each other and the Mexican government.
Gutierrez’s lawyer, David Adler said later that his client should be punished, but he wasn’t a member of a criminal organization, just an unemployed guy making extra money.
“The deal is somebody said, ‘This is an easy way to make some money. It is not a problem. Help me out,’” Adler said. “But that is very different than saying, ‘I got my orders from some Mexican drug cartel leader – go get these guns.’”
At least 40 of the guns purchased by the group were later recovered at crime scenes in Mexico and Guatemala, as gangsters wage a protracted war against one another and the Mexican government, the ATF said.
Gutierrez, 24, pleaded guilty in January to eight charges he lied to Carter’s Country gun store employees about whom the guns were for.
According to an affidavit prepared by ATF agent Carla Mayfield, during a two-month period Gutierrez spent $17,801 — believed to be all cash – on 20 guns.
Information provided by Mexican authorities indicates weapons purchased by Gutierrez were found among an arsenal seized in connection with the arrest of 20 suspected kidnappers in Mexico, according to Mayfield.
Another of the Gutierrez-purchased guns recovered in Mexico was an assault rifle found with 11 alleged members of the Zetas, a group of military-trained hitmen working for the Gulf Cartel, according to the ATF.
The ATF has been tight-lipped about its probe, but court documents offer a glimpse of the investigation.
After a routine inspection of Carter’s Country records in 2007, “numerous people were identified who had made suspicious purchase of firearms in that each purchased a large number of military firearms,” ATF agent Mayfield states in the affidavit.
Carter’s County has declined to comment on the case.
Adler, Gutierrez’s lawyer, said it was time to do more than just look at his client if the U.S. government wants to get serious about weapons going to Mexico.
“Somehow the guns stores, and the gun shows, and the gun manufacturers, are the ones the government should be looking at to formulate a solution,” he said.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/met ... 46248.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
A gun trafficker convicted of buying weapons in Houston to arm Mexican drug cartels was sentenced Friday to four years in prison — a forewarning of the U.S. government’s escalating war on narco-violence.
The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said Juan Pablo Gutierrez was a “prolific” purchaser among a group of 23 arms traffickers who bought at least 339 firearms for Mexican organized crime syndicates in 2006 and 2007.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark White told U.S. District Judge Gray Miller Friday that Gutierrez wasn’t supplying common thugs on Mexico’s streets, but “arming an infantry squad.”
His sentencing comes as the Obama administration is bolstering its efforts to stem the flow of U.S. guns ending up in the hands of powerful drug trafficking gangs waging war against each other and the Mexican government.
Gutierrez’s lawyer, David Adler said later that his client should be punished, but he wasn’t a member of a criminal organization, just an unemployed guy making extra money.
“The deal is somebody said, ‘This is an easy way to make some money. It is not a problem. Help me out,’” Adler said. “But that is very different than saying, ‘I got my orders from some Mexican drug cartel leader – go get these guns.’”
At least 40 of the guns purchased by the group were later recovered at crime scenes in Mexico and Guatemala, as gangsters wage a protracted war against one another and the Mexican government, the ATF said.
Gutierrez, 24, pleaded guilty in January to eight charges he lied to Carter’s Country gun store employees about whom the guns were for.
According to an affidavit prepared by ATF agent Carla Mayfield, during a two-month period Gutierrez spent $17,801 — believed to be all cash – on 20 guns.
Information provided by Mexican authorities indicates weapons purchased by Gutierrez were found among an arsenal seized in connection with the arrest of 20 suspected kidnappers in Mexico, according to Mayfield.
Another of the Gutierrez-purchased guns recovered in Mexico was an assault rifle found with 11 alleged members of the Zetas, a group of military-trained hitmen working for the Gulf Cartel, according to the ATF.
The ATF has been tight-lipped about its probe, but court documents offer a glimpse of the investigation.
After a routine inspection of Carter’s Country records in 2007, “numerous people were identified who had made suspicious purchase of firearms in that each purchased a large number of military firearms,” ATF agent Mayfield states in the affidavit.
Carter’s County has declined to comment on the case.
Adler, Gutierrez’s lawyer, said it was time to do more than just look at his client if the U.S. government wants to get serious about weapons going to Mexico.
“Somehow the guns stores, and the gun shows, and the gun manufacturers, are the ones the government should be looking at to formulate a solution,” he said.
Maybe it's not in our best long term interests to be able to buy as many guns as we can daily? Likewise with a 3 day waiting period, etc., etc. I dunno', what do y'all think? 