A Nevada man admitted in federal court Friday that he bought high-powered firearms and ammunition intended for resale to drug-trafficking organizations in Mexico, while also laundering money and illegally employing workers in the United States, Justice Department officials said.
Luis Alberto Osorio conspired with co-defendants from April 2020 through last September to purchase 140 firearms, along with magazines and ammunition, for individuals tied to violent Mexican drug-trafficking cartels, according to the US Attorney’s Office in Nevada. Prosecutors said the weapons were to be sold across the border for profit.
Court documents said the cache included large-caliber and long-range weapons, among them the Ohio Ordnance Works M2-SLR .50 BMG, Barrett M82A1 and M107A1 .50 BMG antimaterial rifles, the FN Herstal M249S 5.56x45mm rifle and the FN Herstal SCAR 17S 7.62x51mm rifle.
Osorio also acknowledged that he employed people who were in the US illegally at a Nevada mining company.
The Elko resident pleaded guilty to one count of straw purchasing of firearms, one count of trafficking in firearms, one count of harboring certain aliens and one count of conspiracy to launder money.
He faces a maximum sentence of 70 years in prison.
“Firearms trafficking networks feed the violent cartels that terrorize border communities and pump illicit drugs into our neighborhoods,” First Assistant US Attorney Sigal Chattah for the District of Nevada said in a statement. “By cutting off this supply chain and holding this defendant accountable, we are directly disrupting the operational capabilities of these dangerous criminal organizations.”
Osorio is scheduled to be sentenced in February.
“Trafficking military-style firearms and ammunition to drug trafficking organizations in Mexico fuels violence, strengthens criminal networks and threatens communities on both sides of the border,” said Jonathan Sherwin, deputy special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Las Vegas. “This guilty plea is the result of relentless work by HSI and the Homeland Security Task Force and our federal, state and local partners to disrupt the flow of weapons, money and criminal support that allows these organizations to operate.”
The case is part of the Homeland Security Task Force initiative, which was created by an executive order President Donald Trump signed on his first day in office last year.
“In the world of organized crime and drug trafficking, guns and drugs go hand-in-hand,” David S. Olesky, special agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration Los Angeles Field Division, which covers Nevada, said in a statement.
“As a member of the Homeland Security Task Force, DEA and our partners will bring to bear all resources and draw on the full scope of our agencies’ expertise to hold accountable those individuals and organizations which pose a public health and safety threat to our communities through the trafficking of drugs and firearms.”
