Thread: Two admit guilt in Columbus gun trafficking case

Two admit guilt in Columbus gun trafficking case

By Ashley Meeks / ameeks@lcsun-news.com
Posted: 07/15/2011 04:44:37 PM MDT

LAS CRUCES - Two more defendants have pleaded guilty in a case charging the Columbus, N.M., police chief, mayor, a village trustee, his wife and eight others with trafficking firearms to Mexican cartel members.
Eva Lucie Gutierrez, 22, of Las Cruces, and Alberto Rivera, 40, of Columbus, N.M., entered the pleas in federal court in Las Cruces on Friday before U.S. Magistrate Judge William P. Lynch, the U.S. Attorney's Office in El Paso announced.

A total of three of the 13 defendants have pleaded guilty this week, including former mayor Eddie Espinoza.

Rivera, who remains in federal custody, pleaded guilty to conspiracy and nine counts each of making false statements in the acquisition of firearms and smuggling firearms from the United States. He faces up to 140 years in federal prison at sentencing.

Eva Lucie Gutierrez, who is free on conditions of release, pleaded guilty to conspiracy and making a false statement in the acquisition of firearms.

She faces up to 10 years in federal prison.

No sentencing date has been scheduled.

http://www.lcsun-news.com/las_cruces-news/ci_18484727

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