Thread: Weapons dealer sent to prison

Weapons dealer sent to prison

January 30, 2012 10:43 PM
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

HOUSTON — A federal judge in Houston has sentenced a Texas man to more than eight years in prison for organizing illegal gun purchases.

Among the purchases was one that put an assault rifle in the hands of the Zetas drug cartel that was used in a deadly attack on two U.S. agents in Mexico.

U.S. District Judge Lynn Hughes sentenced 30-year-old Manuel Gomez Barba to 100 months in prison Monday, to begin upon completion of a previous nine-year drug sentence.

The indictment alleged Barba paid others to buy 44 guns knowing they’d be exported to the Zetas in Mexico. The U.S. attorney’s office says ballistics testing linked to a February 2011 shooting on a Mexican highway that killed U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Special Agent Jaime J. Zapata and wounded colleague Victor Avila.

Zapata, 32, a native of Brownsville, was killed in Mexico in an attack by members of the Zetas while traveling along Highway 57 in the San Luis Potosí state, according to U.S. officials.

Mexican authorities report they were told the attack on Zapata and Avila was a case of mistaken identity.

Zapata attended Egly Elementary from 1983 to 1990 and Oliveira Middle School from 1990 to 1992, school officials said. He went onto to attend Homer Hanna High School where he graduated in 1995.

Zapata later attended the University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College where he graduated in 2005 with an associate’s degree in Applied Science and a bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice.

He joined the U.S. Department of Immigration and Customs Enforcement in 2006. He previously worked for the U.S. Border Patrol and had been stationed in Yuma, Ariz., before getting his job with ICE.

Weapons dealer sent to prison | houston, prison, sent - Brownsville Herald

I.C.E. News Release

January 30, 2012
Houston, TX

Southeast Texas man sentenced to more than 8 years for exporting firearms, in addition to 9 years for drug smuggling

One of the firearms was used to murder ICE HSI Special Agent Jaime Zapata in February 2011

HOUSTON – A Baytown, Texas, man was sentenced on Monday to eight years and four months in federal prison for illegally exporting firearms, one of which was used to murder an ICE special agent in 2011. This sentence was announced by: U.S. Attorney Kenneth Magidson, Southern District of Texas, Special Agent in Charge Robert Rutt with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in Houston and Acting Special Agent in Charge Gary Orchowski of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).

Manuel Gomez Barba, 30, pleaded guilty to one count of exporting firearms on Oct. 31, 2011. On Jan. 30, he was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Lynn N. Hughes to 100 months imprisonment which is to run consecutively with a 108-month sentence he received for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine in a case prosecuted by the Eastern District of Texas.

Barba could not legally buy firearms due to being on deferred adjudication for two felony drug offenses from Harris County, Texas. Instead, Barba recruited individuals, known as straw buyers, to buy numerous AK-47-type semi-automatic firearms. Barba informed the buyers that the firearms would not be traced back to them since the serial numbers would be obliterated before sending them to Mexico. Once the straw buyers bought the firearms and transferred them to him, Barba facilitated the transfer of the weapons to individuals who transported them to Mexico for use by the Zetas Drug Cartel.

One of the firearms which Barba facilitated to Mexico was used by the Zetas in a shooting on Feb. 15, 2011, which resulted in the death of HSI special agent Jaime Zapata and serious wounding of a second HSI special agent. It was determined through ballistic testing of the shell casings and the raising of the obliterated serial number that one of the firearms used in the shooting was bought at J&J's Pawn Shop in Beaumont, Texas. Once bought, the firearm, along with nine other guns, were transferred to Barba to be exported to Mexico. In total, Barba, who did not have a license to export firearms, was responsible for exporting 44 firearms to Mexico.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Lowery, Southern District of Texas, prosecuted the case.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is the largest investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security.

ICE is a 21st century law enforcement agency with broad responsibilities for a number of key homeland security priorities. For more information, visit U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. To report suspicious activity, call 1-866-347-2423 or complete our tip form.

U.S. Dept of Homeland Security

Southeast Texas man sentenced to more than 8 years for exporting firearms, in addition to 9 years for drug smuggling