Thread: Police: Defendants tried to sneak high-powered guns, ammo across the border

Police: Defendants tried to sneak high-powered guns, ammo across the border

Andrew John Cardiel Jr., 42, (Courtesy of Orange County District Attorney's Office / November 21, 2014)

By Jeremiah Dobruck
December 17, 2014 | 5:36 p.m.

A man and a woman driving through Newport Beach last month with seven AK-47 rifles in the car were transporting the guns for a Mexican drug cartel, according to a sworn statement from a police officer filed in Orange County Superior Court.

Newport Beach police arrested Andrew John Cardiel Jr., 42, and Heather Magun Gurule, 30, after a traffic stop on Nov. 14. When officers searched their van, they allegedly found the high-powered rifles — one of which was stolen — six, 30-round high-capacity magazines, two 10-round magazines and more than 350 rounds of ammunition.

Four days after the arrest, the Orange County district attorney's office submitted a motion asking to increase Cardiel and Gurule's bail from $20,000 to $500,000 each.

As part of that motion, prosecutors filed a declaration from a Newport Beach police officer about why the tougher bail was justified.

"They admitted they were transporting the guns to the U.S. border for a cartel," the officer wrote. "Both are possibly a flight risk and are attempting to bail out of jail."

The declaration also notes the two suspects don't have a permanent address and have a history of drug use and violence.

Both are convicted felons from crimes they committed in San Bernardino County, according to the district attorney's filings.

Cardiel and Gurule have both pleaded not guilty to felony weapons charges, but neither managed to bail out of jail.

They are each being held in Orange County jails in lieu of $100,000, according to online records from the Orange County Sheriff's Department.

Public defenders for Cardiel and Gurule could not be reached.

A prosecutor on the case was unavailable Wednesday.

http://www.dailypilot.com/news/tn-dp...0,968103.story

Are they illegal aliens?

Were these more of the assault rifles that the Obama administration used our tax monies to buy the drug cartel murderers via the Fast and Furious scandal?

W