Mexican National Sentenced for Role in Scheme Exporting Guns to Mexico

Guillermo Gomez-Lazcano, an undocumented Mexican national living in Houston, was sentenced to federal prison for his role in a scheme to export hundreds of firearms to criminal organizations in Mexico, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Texas announced. Gomez-Lazcano is the 18th identified member of the scheme and pleaded guilty in April to being an alien in possession of a firearm, possessing a machine gun and engaging in the conspiracy to possess with intent to sell a controlled substance. Gomez-Lazcano was sentenced to 200 months in federal prison.

Gomez-Lazcano is the son of Gustavo Gomez-Valenzuela, who led the gun-trafficking organization and pleaded guilty to eight counts relating to the illegal export scheme. The scheme involved the purchase of around 500 firearms that were then shipped to "transnational criminal organizations in Mexico," the U.S. Attorney's Office said Aug. 19. Authorities have recovered more than 60 of the guns in Mexico, "the majority of which were being used in acts of violence," it said.