United States Attorney James T. Jacks
Northern District of Texas

TUESDAY, MARCH 29, 2011
http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/txn/

FEDERAL JURY CONVICTS DALLAS MAN ON FIREARM CHARGE

Defendant Faces Up to Ten Years in Prison

DALLAS —A federal jury deliberated just three hours before convicting Arturo Cavazos, 26, of Dallas on a federal firearm offense during a trial that began yesterday before U.S. District Judge Reed C. O’Connor, announced U.S. Attorney James T. Jacks of the Northern District of Texas. Cavazos, who is presently in custody and is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge O’Connor on July 14, 2011, faces a statutory maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and up to a $250,000 fine.

The government presented evidence during trial that on March 6, 2010, shortly after 2:00 a.m., Dallas police officers tried to initiate a traffic stop of the vehicle in which Cavazos was a passenger in the Lowest Greenville Avenue area in Dallas. Instead of stopping, the vehicle sped up, ran two stop signs and eventually stopped at an alley on Laneri Avenue. Cavazos bailed out of the vehicle and fled down the alley while a Dallas police officer chased him on foot.

After Cavazos was detained, an officer found a Glock, model 19, 9 mm firearm in front of the rear wheel well on the passenger side of the vehicle. The gun had one round in the chamber but lacked a magazine. Officers retraced the path of the vehicle on foot and found a 31-round extended 9 mm magazine approximately one block away from the vehicle. The round recovered from the chamber of the Glock was the same caliber and brand as rounds in the magazine. Cavazos’s criminal record included a conviction for two prior felony offenses.

The case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Dallas Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Mary F. Walters prosecuted.

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