Thread: Border agent faces hearing over gun purchase

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercuryn ... 637719.htm

Posted on Mon, Jan. 16, 2006

Border agent faces hearing over gun purchase

BY DAVE MONTGOMERY
Knight Ridder Newspapers

WASHINGTON - A U.S. border patrol agent is scheduled to be arraigned Thursday in Del Rio, Texas, on federal charges that he illegally purchased a pistol for a Mexican national who intended to smuggle the weapon into Mexico, according to U.S. investigators.

Franklin L. Sherren, a Del Rio-based agent, was indicted Dec. 21 by a federal grand jury after an investigation by three federal agencies: the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms; Immigration and Customs Enforcement; and the inspector general for the Department of Homeland Security.

The two-count indictment accuses Sherren of making a false statement during a firearms purchase and transferring a firearm to a person prohibited from owning one in the United States. He is accused of buying a Walther .40-caliber pistol for Ismael Maltos Romo, a Mexican national.

Sherren allegedly gave a "a false and fictitious written statement" in purchasing the pistol from Russell True Value Hardware, according to the indictment. Agents confiscated the weapon, along with two boxes of .40-caliber ammunition, and seized additional evidence in Sherren's home and vehicle, according to a summary of the case from ICE headquarters in Washington.

Sherren's attorney, Richard Gutierrez of Del Rio, said his client is not guilty but declined to discuss the case further before Sherren's scheduled arraignment.

Sherren, who is free on $20,000 bail, was placed on administrative leave, Border Patrol spokesman Todd Fraser said. Sherren has been a Border Patrol agent for about seven years, Fraser said.

Border Patrol Chief David Aguilar said in a statement that there is no place in the Border Patrol "for behavior that tarnishes and discredits the badge we wear proudly."

"We are a world class agency and any agent who defies the Border Patrol's motto of honor first and chooses to violate the trust of the citizens they swore to protect will be held accountable," he said.

you want to dance you got to pay the fiddler