File Photo: Busmaster XM15 E-25
The purchase of an assault rifle from a Harlingen gun store ended with two women facing straw purchasing charges.
U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives (ATF) agents arrested 57-year-old Carmelita Jones and 22-year-old Norma Delgado on Thursday.
The two women are accused of part of a ring that bought guns in the Rio Grande Valley and shipped them south of the border to Mexico.
ATF agents first learned about the groups alleged when Jones bout a Bushmaster XM15 E-25 assault rifle at a gun shop in Harlingen.
Agents questioned Jones and she allegedly told them she was given the money to buy the gun and then given another $150 dollars for her troubles.
The investigation lead to 22-year-old Delgado who admitted to recruited Jones and others to buy weapons on the behalf of a someone in Mexico.
Delgado allegedly told agents that she got paid $300 dollars a week for the past three weeks for her role in the scheme.
Under federal laws, straw purchasing is considered lying on a federal form to buy a gun for somebody else.
Both women appeared before U.S. Magistrate Court Judge Ronald Morgan in Brownsville on Friday morning.
Public records show that Jones was last known address was in Brownsville while Delgado lived in Los Fresnos.
Judge Morgan denied bond for both women until a Tuesday afternoon hearing.
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