Latest local news, weather, high school sports in the Rio Grande Valley

Valley ATF agents have been busy over the past  few months.

Action 4 News reviewed federal court records and learned that federal officials are seeing a “bumper crop” of "straw purchasing" and gun smuggling cases.

Weapons smugglers are heavily recruiting  Rio Grande Valley residents to buy guns in local stores and them smuggle them south of the border.

Recent court cases show that guns purchased by Valley residents are being confiscated in battle with drug cartels in Mexico.

That was the case for Cameron County residents Carlo Garza and Gilberto Gonzalez, Jr.

ATF agents arrested both men on Monday for buying guns for people in Mexico.

Both men faced U.S. Magistrate Judge Felix Recio in Brownsville on Tuesday morning.

Figures show that Garza and Gonzalez are not alone.

U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) agents are pacing to have a record year of similar gun purchasing and smuggling cases.

In the first six months of 2009, ATF agents have secured 10 straw purchasing indictments involving 15 people.

That number promises to outpace the 15 indictments  involving 41 people filed in 2008.

Court records show that 10 indictments involving 19 people in 2007.

This year, the ATF is making headway into identifying recruiters on both sides of the border.

Pharr resident Carlos Jameson was recently indicted a “top recruiter” for a weapons smuggling ring.

A criminal complaint shows that Jameson is believed to have worked with a Reynosa man named “Poncho” to smuggle at least 25 guns into Mexico.

Court documents show that Jameson was indicted and remains at large but one of his alleged accomplices was arrested last week. 

The Valley cases come at a time when both the presidents of the United States and Mexico have pledged to clamp down on drug cartels and gun smuggling.

Brownsville Gun Purchasing Indictments

McAllen Gun Purchasing Indictments

Source: Federal Court Records