Illegal immigrant gets a year in prison in gun-buying case

By Mark Wilson
Posted February 6, 2012 at 4:44 p.m., updated February 6, 2012 at 4:44 p.m.

EVANSVILLE — A federal judge Monday sentenced an illegal immigrant to 12 months in prison for buying guns to send back to his native Honduras.

Manuel De Jesus Martinez Aguilar was arrested in an undercover operation by federal agents and Posey County law enforcement officials on April 29, 2010.

He appeared in U.S. District Court at Evansville on Monday. Chief Judge Richard L. Young also fined him $200. He could also be deported after serving his sentence.

If so, it would be for the second time. Aguilar was deported to Honduras from Houston, Texas, in June 2000, according to court records.

At the time of his arrest in Posey County, he was living in Mount Vernon, Ind., using the name Roger Garcia.

Police said when Aguilar was arrested on April 29 in the parking lot of the Southwind Shopping Plaza in Mount Vernon, Ind., he was making an illegal purchase of two handguns and a shotgun from another person in the shopping center parking lot.

The investigation began when the Posey County Narcotics Unit received a tip about an illegal immigrant buying weapons and later sending them to Honduras. Working with the FBI, investigators identified him as Garcia, and with help from the Evansville Police Department's Crime Scene Unit, investigators determined Garcia was actually Aguilar.

Officers then set up the undercover operation in the parking lot. He was arrested by officers from the FBI, Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms, US Immigration & Customs Enforcement, the Mount Vernon Police Department and Posey County Sheriff's Office.

Illegal immigrant gets a year in prison in gun-buying case » Evansville Courier & Press