Homero Cervantes Rosales and Mauricio Cervantes Rosales, both hailing from Perris, California, pleaded guilty yesterday to charges of conspiring to traffic firearms assumed to be destined for Mexico, and conducting firearms deals without a license. This information was brought to light in a press release from the United States Department of Justice. The brothers reportedly sold more than 30 firearms valued at approximately $60,000 to a cooperating entity and undercover agents posing to be international drug traffickers.
The U.S. Department of Justice revealed that some of the weapons the brothers sold to the undercover agents were Privately Made Firearms, also known as ghost guns. T
According to U.S. Attorney Tara K. McGrath, these illegal activities echo not just in Mexico but also in the United States. McGrath stressed that "Trafficking guns into Mexico arms criminal organizations which then funnel drugs back into the United States," resulting in a vicious cycle of violence and narcotics flow.
An encouraging development in this case is the enforcement of 18 U.S.C. § 933, a new criminal firearms trafficking offense. As emphasized by Christopher Bombardiere, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Special Agent in Charge of Los Angeles Field Division, firearms traffickers are directly accountable for the violence propagated by those weapons.
