A Texas Man Purchased a Gun Used by a Cartel in the Kidnapping and Murder of US Citizens in Mexico
A Texas man has pleaded guilty to purchasing a gun for the Gulf Cartel used by gunmen in Mexico in a kidnapping in which two US citizens were murdered.
Roberto Lugardo Moreno, 42, appeared before a federal judge in Brownsville, Texas, and pleaded guilty to a weapons smuggling charge. US District Judge Rolando Olvera is expected to sentence Lugardo in August in a hearing where the man could receive up to ten years in prison.
Court documents obtained by Breitbart Texas revealed that on March 14, ICE Homeland Security Investigations agents received information from Mexican authorities, including the serial number of a Diamondback AR pistol, which was seized in the border town of Matamoros, Tamaulipas, and is believed to have been used in a kidnapping where two out of four victims were killed.
Authorities tracked the gun down to Lugardo who confessed to officers that he purchased the gun and other weapons for a man he knew was a member of the Gulf Cartel. On each purchase, he would receive $100.
“These weapons often help fuel drug cartel violence that significantly affects communities in both Mexico and the United States,” HSI Acting Special Agent Craig Larrabee told Breitbart Texas in a prepared statement. “This investigation and prosecution highlights the excellent work that federal border security agencies do every day, often behind the scenes and often without public knowledge.”
According to case information, Gulf Cartel gunmen used the weapon on March 3 when they chased, shot and kidnapped Latavia “Tay” McGee, Shaeed Woodard, Zindell Brown and Eric James Williams in Matamoros. After the shooting, the gunmen took the victims to a hospital in Matamoros that the Gulf Cartel uses to treat its gunmen. From there, the gunmen moved their victims through a series of hiding places until they dropped them off at a shack outside town for authorities to find. By the time Mexican authorities found the victims a few days later, two were dead. In an attempt to appease government officials, the Gulf Cartel surrendered five of its gunmen.
The cartel gunmen used a Matamoros city government ambulance that authorities have since seized. As a result of this seizure, Breitbart Texas was able to exclusively report that the Matamoros city official responsible for overseeing the city’s EMS services was a Gulf Cartel enforcer who had previously spent time in a Mexican jail. City officials quietly fired Pedro “El Polaris” Hernandez Quiroga and two others after the briefing. Since then, Mexican authorities have not arrested anyone else in connection with this crime.
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist from Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart management. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at Iortiz@breitbart.com.
Brandon Darby is the managing director and editor of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and senior Breitbart management. Follow him on Twitter And Facebook. He can be contacted at bdarby@breitbart.com.
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