Mackenzie Delmas, Firearms Trafficking, Florida 2021

In a brazen scheme, Mackenzie Delmas, 27, fueled an international firearms smuggling ring by purchasing guns at South Florida gun shows using straw buyers. This week, Delmas was sentenced to 200 months in federal prison for his crimes.

The Delray Beach, Florida man had been a convicted felon during the conspiracy, which operated from about 2018 to 2019. Unable to buy firearms himself due to his prior conviction, Delmas deployed straw buyers to gun shows throughout South Florida to buy firearms on his behalf. The straw buyers would falsely represent to the federally licensed firearms dealers at the shows that the firearms were for them, when in fact they were for Delmas. In a little over one year, Delmas obtained 25 firearms through straw buyers.

Delmas’ scheme was uncovered when Canadian law enforcement intercepted some of these guns as they were being smuggled from New York to Canada in September 2018. In November 2019, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police seized another gun connected to Delmas during a criminal investigation.

The case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) with assistance from numerous federal, local, and foreign agencies. Delmas was one of seven defendants convicted and sentenced in the Southern District of Florida in this matter. Two additional defendants, Shalena Mary Haynes and Enza Esposito, are fugitives.

U.S. District Judge Roy K. Altman imposed the sentence on Delmas. Assistant U.S. Attorney Adam McMichael and former DOJ Anti-Trust Trial Attorney, Paola Henry prosecuted the case. The case number is 19-cr-80045 and can be found on the District Court for the Southern District of Florida website.

Delmas faced a multitude of charges, including conspiracy, firearms smuggling, straw purchasing of firearms, possession of firearms by a convicted felon, and possession with intent to distribute MDMA. His sentencing took place in May 2021 in Miami, Florida.

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