Gerardo Rafael Perez Jr., Firearms Trafficking, Texas 2024

Five individuals were arrested in Laredo, Hebbronville, and Falls City, Texas, last week for allegedly trafficking military grade firearms to a drug cartel in Mexico.

Gerardo Rafael Perez Jr., also known as Jerry, 23, of Laredo, allegedly coordinated the acquisition of more than 100 firearms throughout Texas to be smuggled across the international border and delivered to a drug trafficking cartel in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, Mexico.

Perez’s organization allegedly used straw purchasers, including co-defendants Francisco Alejandro Benavides, also known as Frankie, 23, and Mark Anthony Trevino Jr., 24, to procure the firearms from a variety of sources in the Western, Southern, and Northern Districts of Texas.

Court documents allege that the organization would acquire guns from unlicensed dealers of firearms, or from federal firearm licensees, where straw purchasers would make false representations to secure the firearms.

The high-powered firearms allegedly acquired by Perez’s organization included FNH SCAR rifles, Barrett .50 caliber rifles, FNH M294S rifles, and M1919 rifles.

Perez, Casarez, Leal, Benavides, and Trevino were all named in a superseding indictment filed March 6. They were arrested March 20.

The five new defendants are all charged with one count of conspiracy to traffic firearms, which carries a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison, and one count of conspiracy to straw purchase firearms, which carries a maximum penalty of 25 years in prison.

Perez, Casarez, Leal, and Benavides are further charged with one count of conspiracy to smuggle goods from the United States, which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison, and one count of conspiracy to possess firearms in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.

Perez faces two additional firearms trafficking charges. Leal, Benavides, and Trevino are also charged with falsifying information when buying a firearm, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison; and an additional count of straw purchasing.

All of the charges also carry a fine up to $250,000.

Luis Matias Leal also known as Wicho, Poncho, and El Tio, 30, allegedly provided cash and instructions to facilitate the conspiracy, while Antonio Osiel Casarez, 26, would smuggle the firearms into Mexico and return to the United States with bulk cash.

“Stopping the trafficking of high-caliber and military grade firearms to Mexico is a top priority for the Justice Department — and especially the ATF and HSI agents and Department prosecutors that lead Operation Southbound,” said Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco.

“Preventing firearms from getting into the black market is one of ATF’s top priorities,” said Director Steven Dettelbach of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).

“The successful outcome of these arrests is a direct result of the steadfast efforts of HSI and our federal partner to prevent firearms from falling into the hands of transnational criminal organizations that pose a threat to public safety both here and abroad,” said Executive Associate Director Katrina W. Berger of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

The individuals were arrested March 20 and are currently facing charges. If convicted, they could face up to 25 years in prison and a fine up to $250,000.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/five-arrested-south-texas-allegedly-trafficking-military-grade-firearms-mexican-drug-cartel