Glock Gun Trafficker Jonathan Hiraldo Abreu’s Co-Conspirators Sentenced to Years in Prison

ATLANTA, GA – In a brazen attempt to silence communities, a firearms trafficking ring has been dismantled, and four defendants have been sentenced to hard time for conspiring to buy guns in the metro Atlanta area that were later smuggled to the Dominican Republic.

U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Buchanan warned, “Firearms traffickers present an immediate danger to communities within and outside our district. We are committed to working with our federal, state, local, and international partners to disrupt the illegal flow of firearms by identifying and prosecuting those who illegally purchase and traffic these weapons.”

The defendants, Jonathan Hiraldo Abreu, 36, of Pennsylvania; Cornel Rashard Miley, 33, of Georgia; Charqweshia Sierra Miley, 34, of Arizona; and Jose Munoz, 29, of Rhode Island, orchestrated a scheme to smuggle at least 73 firearms, including Glock 9 mm semiautomatic pistols, to the Dominican Republic.

According to court documents, Cornel Rashard Miley, a Georgia resident, repeatedly deceived licensed firearms dealers by falsely certifying at the point of sale that he was purchasing the firearms. In fact, Hiraldo Abreu was the actual purchaser who provided the money to the Mileys and told them which guns to buy.

The Mileys purchased the guns for Hiraldo Abreu between November 2021 and April 2022. In June 2022, Hiraldo Abreu recruited his cousin, Munoz, to manage the gun purchases in his place. Munoz met Hiraldo Abreu in Pennsylvania, traveled to Georgia, directed the Mileys’ purchase of 22 firearms, and then returned to Hiraldo Abreu’s home.

The scheme was finally uncovered when nine of the firearms were recovered during an x-ray inspection of a shipping container in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. The guns had been stashed inside the container with various household goods without having been declared or approved for export.

The sentences handed down to the defendants include:

• Cornel Rashard Miley, 33, of Georgia: 10 years and 1 month in prison, followed by 3 years of supervised release
• Charqweshia Sierra Miley, 34, of Arizona: 10 years and 1 month in prison, followed by 3 years of supervised release
• Jose Munoz, 29, of Rhode Island: 5 years in prison, followed by 3 years of supervised release
• Jonathan Hiraldo Abreu, 36, of Pennsylvania: 10 years and 1 month in prison, followed by 3 years of supervised release

Homeland Security Investigations Attaché, U.S. Embassy, Santo Domingo, Special Agent Edwin Lopez praised the close coordination between federal, local, and international law enforcement partners, saying, “Our thanks especially goes out to the Dominican Republic’s Transnational Criminal Investigative Unit (TCIU) which contributed significantly to the final outcome of this investigation.”