Final two defendants sentenced in multi-state conspiracy responsible for hundreds of firearms trafficked to Mexico

McALLEN, Texas - Two men have been sentenced following their convictions of conspiracy to traffic firearms and smuggling goods out of the United States, announced U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei.

Esteban Rios Reyes, 35, a legal permanent resident of Silverhill, Alabama, pleaded guilty Jan. 28, while Alex Santos Lopez, 22, a U.S. citizen residing in Oaxaca, Mexico, admitted his guilt Feb. 16, 2024.

Chief U.S. District Judge Randy Crane has now ordered Lopez and Reyes to serve 90 and 87 months in federal prison, respectively. Lopez was ordered to serve three years of supervised release after his prison term, while Reyes, who is not a U.S. citizen, could lose his status to reside in the United States. At the hearing, the court heard additional evidence about how frequently the organization exported weapons and coordinated across several states in the months before the smuggling attempt. In handing down the sentence, Judge Crane emphasized Lopez's and Reyes' leadership roles in the organization and the lengths they went to conceal their behavior.

On Sept. 6, 2023, Lopez drove a truck towing a utility trailer and attempted to exit the United States. An outbound inspection led to the discovery of 270 firearms, 251 firearm magazines, nine sights and 1,541 rounds of ammunition. The weapons were a combination of assault rifles, shotguns, pistols and rifles, many of them disassembled. All the items were individually wrapped and hidden either behind a false wall that was built into the utility trailer or inside water heaters that Reyes had purchased to disguise the load.

The investigation revealed that this was not the first load of firearms that the organization had attempted to traffic into Mexico. The traffickers had been acquiring firearms since 2022 at various locations across the United States, including Louisiana, Alabama, Oklahoma, North Carolina and Tennessee. The weapons were then stored at stash houses in Texas, disassembled and wrapped, and ultimately concealed in trailers before being smuggled into Mexico.

This operation led to arrests in numerous districts across the United States, resulting in the disruption of several smuggling attempts and the seizure of nearly 1,000 firearms destined for Mexico.

Co-conspirators Felipe Garcia, 36, and Angel Carreno, 25, both of Dallas, and Jose Luis Pacheco, 25, a U.S. citizen living in Guadalajara, Mexico, previously pleaded guilty to their roles in the trafficking organization and were ordered to serve 57, 57 and 54 months in federal prison, respectively.

Lopez and Reyes have been and will remain in custody pending transfer to a Federal Bureau of Prisons facility to be determined in the near future.

Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and Immigration and Customs Enforcement - Homeland Security Investigations conducted the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) operation with the assistance of Customs and Border Protection. Assistant U.S. Attorney Lee A. Fry prosecuted the case.

This case was prosecuted under the new criminal provisions of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, enacted in June 2022. It is the first federal statute specifically designed to target the unlawful trafficking and straw-purchasing of firearms.

OCDETF identifies, disrupts and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach. Additional information about the OCDETF Program can be found on the Department of Justice's OCDETF webpage.