| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 19, 2008 WWW.USDOJ.GOV/USAO/CAN |
SAN JOSE – United States Attorney Joseph P. Russoniello announced that four defendants have pleaded guilty to Conspiracy and Firearms Trafficking charges in federal court in San Jose.
According to the plea agreement, the defendants, Alonso Lopez, along with his son, Neil Jasso, and David Bovino, Sheila Songer, and Janitzo Torres-Mora, a/k/a Salvador Torres (a fugitive), obtained firearms unlawfully from legitimate firearms dealers in Reno, Nevada, using defendants Bovino and Songer as “straw” purchasers, that is, persons who would purchase firearms under false pretenses and make false representations on federal firearms purchase documents. Defendants Torres and Lopez then transported the firearms to California to be sold.
Unbeknownst to the defendants, the buyers were in fact undercover police officers operating the “Jose Clara Co-Op,” a metal recycling business specializing in the purchase of stolen copper. The undercover officers also represented themselves to the criminals who frequented business as Columbian drug dealers. (The existence of the Co-Op undercover operation was revealed in January 2008, when the Santa Clara County District Attorney announced the arrests of approximately 200 defendants in connection with that sting.)
Between September 2007 and January 2008, the defendants sold a total of 35 weapons to the undercover officers, including seven AK47 rifles, four SKS rifles, and two AR-15 rifles.
Jasso, Bovino, and Songer each pleaded to Conspiracy to Deal In Firearms Without a License, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 371, and Lopez pleaded guilty to Dealing In Firearms Without a License, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § §922(a)(1)(A). The pleas were entered before United States District Judge Jeremy Fogel.
The investigation was a joint state-federal effort involving the San Jose and Reno offices of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, along with the San Jose and Santa Clara police departments.
The defendants were charged by Superseding Information filed on September 18, 2008.
Sentencing for each defendant is scheduled before Judge Fogel in San Jose for January 21, 2009. All four defendants face maximum prison sentences of 5 years, maximum fines of $ 250,000.00 and supervised release terms of 3 years. However, any sentence following conviction would be imposed by the Court after consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the federal statute governing the imposition of a sentence, 18 U.S.C. § 3553.
Thomas M. O’Connell is the Assistant U.S. Attorney who is prosecuting the case with the assistance of legal technician Tracey Anderson.
Further Information:
A copy of this press release may be found on the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s website at www.usdoj.gov/usao/can.
Electronic court filings and further procedural and docket information are available at https://ecf.cand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl.
Judges’ calendars with schedules for upcoming court hearings can be viewed on the court’s website at www.cand.uscourts.gov.
All press inquiries to the U.S. Attorney’s Office should be directed to Jack Gillund at (415) 436-6599 or by email at Jack.Gillund@usdoj.gov.
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