Quemado Man Pleads Guilty to Federal Firearm Offense

ALBUQUERQUE - A Quemado man pleaded guilty in federal court after law enforcement seized 13 firearms and ammunition from his property during a 2024 search.

According to court documents, in April 2024, the Catron County Sheriff's Office was investigating residential burglaries and identified Chad Walter Gash, 43, as a person of interest. During that investigation, law enforcement determined that Gash had previously been convicted in Texas in 2014 of manufacturing or delivery of a controlled substance and that he completed his sentence in October 2019. As a convicted felon, Gash was prohibited from possessing firearms or ammunition.

Investigators learned from neighbors that firearms were regularly being fired from Gash's property and that Gash had possessed numerous firearms there. On April 30, 2024, officers executed a search warrant at Gash's residence and recovered 13 firearms and ammunition from his bedroom and a travel trailer associated with him, along with methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia. Some of the seized weapons included an unregistered short-barreled shotgun and a destructive device.

Gash pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm and faces up to 15 years in prison at sentencing.

First Assistant U.S. Attorney Ryan Ellison and Justin A. Garris, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Albuquerque Field Office, made the announcement today.

The Las Cruces Resident Agency of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Albuquerque Field Office investigated this case with assistance from the Catron County Sheriff's Office and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Assistant U.S. Attorneys James Dickens and Benjamin Suslavich are prosecuting the case.