Prior Felon From Carlsbad Sentenced to 78 Months in Federal Prison for Unlawful Possession of a Firearm

ALBUQUERQUE – On Tuesday, a federal judge in Las Cruces, N.M., sentenced Basilio Flores, 29, of Carlsbad, N.M., to 78 months in federal prison followed by three years of supervised release for being a felon in possession of a firearm.  Flores’s sentence was announced by U.S. Attorney Kenneth J. Gonzales and Thomas G. Atteberry, Special Agent in Charge of the Phoenix Division of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives.

Flores was arrested on Feb. 3, 2012, on a criminal complaint, and has been in federal custody since that time.  Flores pled guilty to an indictment on July 2, 2012, that charged him with unlawfully possessing a .40 caliber semi-automatic pistol on Jan. 16, 2012, in Eddy County, N.M.  At the time, Flores was prohibited from possessing firearms or ammunition because he previously had been convicted of three felonies in the 5th Judicial District Court for the State of New Mexico, including armed robbery with a deadly weapon.

The case was investigated by the Roswell office of the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Explosives and Firearms and the Carlsbad Police Department, and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Mick I.R. Gutierrez of the U.S. Attorney’s Las Cruces Branch Office.