Foreign National Is Sentenced To Prison For Trafficking Firearms

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Arturo Sanchez-Delgadillo, 34, of Mexico, was sentenced today to 48 months in prison followed by one year of supervised release for unlawful possession of a firearm by an illegal alien, after he attempted to trade 12 illegal firearms for half a kilogram of cocaine, announced Dena J. King, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. 

Bennie Mims, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), Charlotte Field Division, and Interim Chief Roy Sisk of the Matthews Police Department join U.S. Attorney King in making today’s announcement. 

According to filed court documents and court proceedings, on December 2, 2021, Sanchez-Delgadillo knowingly possessed 12 illegal firearms which he attempted to trade for half a kilogram of cocaine with an individual working with law enforcement (CI). Court documents show that, over the course of the negotiations about the trade, Sanchez-Delgadillo sent the CI photographs of multiple firearms he possessed. On December 2, 2021, Sanchez-Delgadillo and the CI arranged to meet and make the trade. Law enforcement conducted a traffic stop of Sanchez-Delgadillo’s vehicle while he was on his way to meet with the CI. Law enforcement searched Sanchez-Delgadillo’s vehicle and seized 12 firearms, including pistols and semiautomatic assault rifles, four pistol magazines, and two high capacity rifle magazines.

On June 21, 2023, Sanchez-Delgadillo pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm by an alien illegally and unlawfully in the United States. He is in federal custody and will be transferred to the custody of the federal Bureau of Prisons upon designation of a federal facility.

In making today’s announcement, U.S. Attorney King thanked the ATF and the Matthews Police Department for their investigation of the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Taylor G. Stout and Shavonn N. Bennette of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Charlotte prosecuted the case.