SAN DIEGO—Two brothers from Riverside County who sold more than 30 guns to undercover law enforcement officers they believed would smuggle the weapons into Mexico pleaded guilty in San Diego Oct. 19 to federal charges.
Homero Cervantes Rosales, 38, and Mauricio Cervantes Rosales, 28, both of Perris, admitted to selling guns and silencers for an estimated value of $60,000 to undercover agents posing as drug traffickers, as well as one “cooperating individual.”
The brothers’ plea agreements state that they believed the guns they sold were “destined for Mexico.” Homero Cervantes Rosales at one point stated “that with advance notice, he could get any kind of firearms or ammunition,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
The brothers pleaded guilty Thursday to conspiracy to traffic firearms and dealing firearms without a license.
“Trafficking guns into Mexico arms criminal organizations which then funnel drugs back into the United States,” U.S. Attorney Tara K. McGrath said in a statement. “In this case, ATF was able to seize an arsenal. And, without their intervention those guns would have put lives at risk on both sides of the border.”
