Las Cruces Gunman Gets 20 Years for Violation of Federal Firearms Laws

ALBUQUERQUE – Clemente Eduardo Vasquez-De La Cruz, 27, a Mexican national living in Las Cruces, N.M., was handed a 20-year federal prison sentence this afternoon for violating firearms laws. The sentence also includes three years of supervised release.

Vasquez-De La Cruz was targeted under the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s anti-violence initiative, which seeks to remove violent offenders from New Mexico communities. He was originally charged in December 2013 for being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition, as well as possessing an unregistered short-barreled firearm.

The crime spree began when Vasquez-De La Cruz allegedly fired a shotgun at a Deputy of the Doña Ana County Sheriff’s Office on April 5, 2013. At the time, he was prohibited from owning firearms due to prior convictions for aggravated assault and other violent crimes.

He pleaded guilty to the charges without a plea agreement in April 2014. His federal sentence is concurrent with his state sentences, which were also handed down by the 3rd Judicial District Attorney’s Office.

The investigation was conducted by the Las Cruces office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and the New Mexico HIDTA Regional Interagency Drug Task Force. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Maria Y. Armijo and Anna Wright prosecuted the case.

The HIDTA Metro Narcotics Task Force, comprised of officers from the Las Cruces Police Department and the Doña Ana County Sheriff’s Office, is a key component of the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTA) program, which was established under the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988 to combat drug trafficking in critical regions.