Related Federal Cases
Nacogdoches Gun Runner Moreno Gets 10 Years Federal Time
BEAUMONT, Texas – Joel Bustamante Moreno, 26, a Mexican national unlawfully present in the United States, is headed to federal prison for a decade after being convicted of possessing machineguns in the Eastern District of Texas. Acting U.S. Attorney Jay R. Combs announced the sentencing, a clear message that illegal firearms trafficking won’t be tolerated.
Moreno pleaded guilty to unlawful possession or transfer of a machinegun and received a 120-month sentence from U.S. District Judge Marcia A. Crone on September 10, 2025. The case stemmed from a late 2023 investigation into the distribution of machinegun conversion devices (MCDs) – the insidious little mechanisms turning standard pistols and rifles into fully automatic weapons – in the Nacogdoches area. These MCDs, easily attached to firearms, skirt the law while delivering deadly firepower.
Court records reveal Moreno wasn’t just holding onto these devices; he was actively peddling them. On February 1, 2024, Moreno sold a pistol *and* an AR-style rifle that had already been illegally converted to fire fully automatically. The sale also included high-capacity magazines – two 100-round drums for the rifle, a 30-round magazine, three pistol magazines, and live ammunition. The feds weren’t catching him in a sting operation, either; Moreno fled the scene at high speed after the transaction, crashing his vehicle and attempting to evade capture on foot before being cornered inside a residence and taken into custody by SWAT teams.
The investigation didn’t stop at the firearms. It quickly surfaced that Moreno was not authorized to be in the United States, adding an immigration violation to his mounting legal troubles. He was operating outside the law on multiple fronts, turning Nacogdoches into a potential hub for illegal weaponry. This wasn’t a simple possession case; it was a deliberate act of trafficking, putting dangerous tools into the hands of who-knows-who.
This case is a key component of “Operation Take Back America,” a sweeping federal initiative aiming to combat illegal immigration, dismantle cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect communities from violent crime. The operation leverages the resources of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) and Project Safe Neighborhood (PSN) – a combined effort to choke off the flow of illegal weapons and criminal activity.
The investigation was a collaborative effort between the Nacogdoches Police Department, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). Assistant U.S. Attorney Donald S. Carter prosecuted the case, securing a significant sentence for Moreno and sending a strong signal that those who illegally traffic in machineguns will face serious consequences. The streets of Nacogdoches, and beyond, are a little safer with this gun runner behind bars.
Key Facts
- State: Texas
- Agency: DOJ USAO
- Category: Weapons|Organized Crime
- Source: Official Source ↗
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