FRESNO, Calif. – Jose Moreno, 26, of Hanford, is heading to federal prison for more than three years after being sentenced for peddling illegal machine guns. U.S. District Judge Dale A. Drozd handed down the 37-month sentence today, Acting U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced – a small victory in a larger war against gang violence and illegal firearms.
The bust went down on May 22, 2019, in a Hanford parking lot. Moreno sold a fully automatic handgun, complete with two 16-round magazines, to an individual who was quickly pulled over by law enforcement. This wasn’t a one-off deal, though. The Moreno case was cracked during a months-long wiretap investigation targeting the Nuestra Familia Prison Gang, which operates in Kings and Tulare Counties. The investigation exposed Moreno as a key supplier, manufacturing and distributing these deadly weapons to street gang members – fueling the cycle of violence on the streets.
Moreno pleaded guilty on August 30, 2021, after being indicted by a federal grand jury on November 14, 2019. He wasn’t working alone. Eric Lopez Mercado, 27, of Lemoore, also faces charges in connection with the scheme, and the case against him is still pending. It’s crucial to remember that Mercado is presumed innocent until proven guilty – a legal principle often lost in the rush to judgment.
This wasn’t a simple local operation. The investigation was a massive collaborative effort, pulling in resources from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Kings County Gang Task Force, the California Department of Justice, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, and even the Kings County District Attorney’s Office. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Justin J. Gilio, Katherine E. Schuh, and Kimberly A. Sanchez led the prosecution.
Federal officials are framing this case as part of a larger, national crackdown on organized crime. It’s an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) operation – a multi-agency approach aimed at dismantling the highest-level criminal organizations threatening the United States. You can find more information on OCDETF at www.justice.gov/OCDETF. This isn’t about locking up one man; it’s about disrupting an entire network.
The Moreno sentencing also falls under Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program designed to bring law enforcement and communities together to reduce violent crime. The Department of Justice relaunched PSN in 2017, signaling a renewed focus on tackling violent criminals at the local level. Details on PSN can be found at www.justice.gov/psn. While a three-year sentence won’t solve the problem of illegal guns, it’s a step – a small, hard-won step – toward making the streets a little safer.
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Key Facts
- State: California
- Agency: DOJ USAO
- Category: Weapons|Organized Crime|Violent Crime
- Source: Official Source ↗
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