A man from Weslaco, Texas, will serve 10 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to the straw purchasing of guns and possessing child pornography.
Jose Angel Hinojosa Jr., 37, pleaded guilty Jan. 19, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas Alamdar S. Hamdani said in a news release Thursday.
During his plea, he admitted trying to smuggle more than 40 firearms. The judge was told that many of the weapons tied to Hinojosa were traced to Mexico. Weslaco is in South Texas, near the Mexican border.
Chief U.S. District Judge Randy Crane sentenced Hinojosa to 120 months in federal prison, which will be immediately followed by five years of supervised release.
During sentencing, the judge emphasized the seriousness of the crimes and called them heinous.
Authorities said that from June 5, 2016, through May 9, 2022, Hinojosa took part in firearms dealing by straw purchasing firearms from an online gun broker. In straw purchases, a person buys weapons in place of someone who is not legally authorized to purchase them.
Hinojosa arranged for the weapons to be exported into Mexico, which has strict gun laws, authorities said.
While investigating the firearms case, law enforcement found out that Hinojosa also was possibly linked to child pornography. Authorities executed a search warrant on his cellphone and found several videos of minors engaging in sexual conduct. He then admitted receiving the child pornography from other people, records show.
Hinojosa was allowed to remain on bond but must voluntarily surrender to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility on Jan. 7, 2025.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives investigated the case with the Homeland Security Investigations – Child Exploitation Task Force. Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric D. Flores prosecuted the case.
This post was originally published on this site be sure to check out more of their content.
