Three men from Southern California are facing federal charges after they allegedly traveled to Utah to buy more than 120 guns, then resold those firearms in California without a license.
Manuel Ivan Sanchez, 37, of Helendale; Ricardo Amezcua, 45, of South Gate; and Fernando Nava, 35, of Hemet, are charged with conspiracy, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a news release.
They were arrested Wednesday morning and are due to appear in U.S. District Court in downtown L.A. this afternoon.
Prosecutors say that from November 2022 to July 2024, the men "frequently made short trips to Utah to purchase firearms – including various pistols and semiautomatic rifles – from licensed firearms dealers," to whom they lied about being Utah residents.
"Listing a Utah residence was important because Utah-based licensed firearms dealers generally cannot sell firearms to California residents," the DOJ said. "To buy the guns anyway, each defendants obtained either a Utah driver’s license or ID card listing a Utah address. They then used these fraudulently obtained cards to buy guns from Utah-based licensed firearms dealers."
Sanchez also bought more than 80 guns through a Utah-based online gun exchange and met sellers in Utah to buy the weapons, though in at least one instance, he sent Amezcua in his place, prosecutors added.
Though Sanchez, Amezcua and Nava did not have a license to sell firearms, they allegedly sold the weapons to buyers or a middleman with "marked-up prices."
“Illegally sold guns often end up being used in violent crime and other serious offenses,” U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada said in the DOJ release. “It is imperative to protecting our community that we aggressively prosecute those who put all of us at risk by illegally trafficking in firearms.”
If convicted, the men could be sentenced to up to five years in federal prison.