2023-05-18 00:12:02
BROWNSVILLE, Texas (AP) — A Texas man pleaded guilty Wednesday in federal court to purchasing a gun for a Mexican drug cartel that was linked to the deadly kidnapping of four Americans.
Roberto Lugardo Moreno Jr., of Harlingen, Texas, appeared before a federal judge in Brownsville and pleaded guilty to charges of unauthorized purchase for another person and smuggling of a firearm.
Lugardo Moreno, 42, purchased an AR-type multi-caliber pistol at a pawn shop in 2019 and lied on a form, stating that he was the buyer when he actually purchased it for a member of the Gulf cartel in Mexico, according to a federal complaint.
“Too often firearms are trafficked into Mexico, where they end up in the hands of criminals who use them to kill, rob and extort innocent people,” US Attorney Alamdar Hamdani said in a statement. “This case is a classic example of the dangers involved when criminals transport weapons into Mexico.”
The sentencing hearing has been scheduled for August.
A public defender assigned to Lugardo Moreno did not return calls and emails seeking comment.
The kidnapping occurred in the Mexican city of Matamoros, bordering Brownsville.
The serial number of the gun that Lugardo Moreno bought in October 2019 matched that of a gun that authorities recovered that was linked to the March 3 kidnappings, according to the federal complaint. Lugardo Moreno testified that he did not request a permit to export the weapon from the United States to Mexico and knew that it would be exported illegally, according to the complaint.
Moreno told authorities that he received $100 for the purchase of the weapons.
Four friends who traveled to Mexico in March so one of them might undergo cosmetic surgery were caught up in a cartel shootout in Matamoros. After a vehicle collided with the van they were traveling in, men wearing bulletproof vests and assault rifles got into another vehicle and surrounded them.
Shaeed Woodard and Zindell Brown were apparently killed immediately, their bodies placed in a van along with the two survivors, Eric Williams and Latavia McGee. The bodies and the two people alive were found four days later in a hut.
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