A Phoenix woman has been handed down an 87-month prison sentence for her role in a transnational gun smuggling saga that involved machine guns and an attempt to launder illicit gains. Cynthia Solano, 40, was also sentenced this week to 36 months of supervised release after her incarceration, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Arizona. Her guilty pleas to possession of a machinegun and conspiracy to commit money laundering came on August 14, 2024.
The court documents reveal a complex operation, with Solano conspiring with accomplices to move money in a way that would obscure its origin as revenue from arms trafficking. The firearms in question made their way from the United States into Canada between February 2022 and January 2023. Solano then used these proceeds to purchase additional firearms, effectively fueling a vicious cycle. Around late December 2022, she amassed 87 firearms in Phoenix, intended for her cohorts in Michigan.
However, the smuggling operation came to a screeching halt on January 3, 2023, when Solano was pulled over by the Illinois State Police near Springfield, Illinois. A search of her vehicle unearthed 87 firearms, each concealed in festive Christmas wrapping paper. Notably, one of these firearms had been modified with a machinegun conversion device, transforming a semi-automatic weapon into a fully automatic machinegun, as per a statement from the U.S. Attorney's Office.
After facing arraignment in Arizona, Solano initially got pretrial release. In an unexpected turn of events, she fled to Mexico after severing her electronic monitoring device. The United States Marshals' Office, however, confirmed her capture and subsequent removal back to U.S. soil to stand trial.
This case was not just a single-agency endeavor but the product of a concerted effort among multiple agencies under the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) Strike Force Initiative. The Arizona Strike Force, specifically, includes participation from a myriad of agencies, including Customs and Border Protection, the Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations, and others, as they work closely to dismantle significant criminal networks involved in drug trafficking, money laundering, and other serious offenses.
