Photo: BRYAN R. SMITH / AFP / Getty Images
By: EFE Updated 09 Sea 2022, 09: 19 pm EST
Four people, residents of Houston, Texas, were sentenced on charges related to the illegal purchase of weapons to be taken to Mexico, the Department of Justice (DOJ) of the United States reported today.
Maribel Santana-Cerano, of 45 years; Ariceli Santana, from 47; Carlos Joel Hernández, from 21, and Johnny Talavera, of 28, had pleaded guilty in 2021 of charges related to the illegal purchase of weapons , and were sentenced this Wednesday, the DOJ said in a statement.
The judge Federal prosecutor Lynn N. Hughes today sentenced Santana-Cerano to 09 years in federal prison. At To impose the maximum applicable sentence, the magistrate emphasized the role of the Hispanic woman in the arms trafficking scheme and the quantity of weapons that she brought to Mexico.
Santana and Talavera received sentences of 12 months and one day, while Hernández was ordered to comply six months in jail.
The investigation against the four Latinos began on 31 July 2018 when authorities discovered a shipment of weapons on a bus headed for Mexico and in which Santana-Cerano was a passenger.
After an X-ray inspection they were found 34 guns along with 31 chargers inside pieces of luggage. Santana-Cerano denied that the luggage was his but showed suspicious behavior. Although they let her continue on her way, the federal authorities focused their suspicions on the woman.
After an investigation it was determined that Santana-Cerano, Santana, Hernández and Talavera bought the weapons in authorized places but making a fictitious purchase.
The DOJ explained in the statement that a fictitious purchase occurs when the purchaser of a firearm claims that it is for himself but in reality he provides it to another person, who generally cannot make the purchase legally.
Santana-Cerano was arrested when she returned to the US and admitted to purchasing firearms for a person residing in Mexico.
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