Silver City Man Sentenced to Prison for Violating Federal Firearms Laws

ALBUQUERQUE – Jeremy Cuevas, 35, of Silver City, N.M., was sentenced yesterday in federal court in Las Cruces, N.M., to 77 months in federal prison followed by three years of supervised release for being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition.  The sentence was announced by Acting U.S. Attorney Damon P. Martinez, 6th Judicial District Attorney Francesca Martinez-Estevez and Special Agent in Charge Dennis A. Ulrich, II, of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in El Paso, Texas.

Cuevas was arrested in Nov. 2013 in a criminal complaint alleging that Cuevas unlawfully possessed a handgun and ammunition in Grant County, N.M., on Oct. 4, 2012.  According to the complaint, state probation officers who were conducting a field visit at Cuevas’ residence on Oct. 4, 2012, contacted the Silver City Police Department after learning that Cuevas was in possession of methamphetamine.  The Silver City Police Department obtained a search warrant for Cuevas residence.  When the officers executed the search warrant, they seized a handgun and ammunition, a small amount of methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia.

Court records reflect that Cuevas was prohibited from possessing firearms or ammunition in Oct. 2012 because he previously had been convicted of the following felony offenses in the 6th Judicial District Court for the State of New Mexico:  trafficking in cocaine in 1999; attempted aggravated battery in 2000; possession of methamphetamine in 2010; and tampering with evidence in 2011.

On Jan. 22, 2014, Cuevas entered a guilty plea to a felony information charging him with being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition.

This case was investigated by the Deming office of HSI, the Silver City Police Department, and the Probation and Parole Division of the New Mexico Corrections Department, and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Maria Y. Armijo of the U.S. Attorney’s Las Cruces Branch Office.

Cuevas was prosecuted as part of a federal anti-violence initiative that targets “the worst of the worst” offenders for federal prosecution.  Under this initiative, the U.S. Attorney’s Office and federal law enforcement agencies work with New Mexico’s District Attorneys and state, local and tribal law enforcement agencies to target violent or repeat offenders for federal prosecution with the goal of removing repeat offenders from communities in New Mexico for as long as possible.