Irving Man Sentenced To Federal Prison For Possessing Machine Guns & Drug Crimes
IRVING, Texas (CBSDFW.COM) - US Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Chad Meacham announced today that an Irving man was sentenced to 14 years in federal prison for possessing machine guns and for numerous drug crimes.
Ramon Navarro III, 23, of Irving pleaded guilty in March to four counts of an unregistered firearm and eight counts of distribution of controlled substances.
Navarro, who had also used the alias "Trae Alvarez," admitted to the court that he possessed four machine gun conversion sears, three-piece devices designed to convert semiautomatic weapons into machine guns. All of the conversion sears lacked serial numbers and were of unknown origin.
Unlike semiautomatic weapons, machineguns can shoot more than one round per shot per single pull of the trigger without manual reloading. With the exception of a very small number of weapons manufactured and sold lawfully before 1986, machineguns are illegal for civilians to possess under the National Firearms Act.
Navarro possessed six Glock pistols, each with an incorporated conversion sear, transforming the firearms into machine guns in operating condition. None of them were registered to Navarro, who also admitted to trafficking cocaine and heroin.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives' Dallas Field Division and the Dallas Police Department worked together on the case, which was part of a Department of Justice initiative called Project Guardian. Project Guardian aims to reduce gun violence by enforcing federal gun laws through coordination between the federal government and state and local law enforcement.
"This investigation is an example of ATF's steadfast commitment to working with Dallas Police Department and all our local, state, and federal law enforcement partners in combining resources to combat violent crime, disrupt firearms trafficking, and ultimately create safer communities," stated Jamey VanVliet, Assistant Special Agent in Charge of the ATF's Dallas Field Division.
