Army recruiter gets 17 years in straw purchase scheme to sell guns to Mexico’s Gulf Cartel

By Chris Eger

Former Army recruiter Julian Prezas walks outside the John H. Wood Federal Courthouse in San Antonio. (Photo: San Antonio Express-News)
A former soldier who ran a Texas-based ring to buy guns and re-sell them to Mexican drug traffickers was sentenced last week in a San Antonio federal court.
Former U.S. Army Sgt. Julian Prezas, 37, received a sentence of 200 months in federal prison on five counts of making a false statement during the purchase of firearms and one count of attempting to export controlled defense articles to Mexico without a license.
According to court documents, Prezas, a recruiter, worked with three co-defendants, all other servicemen, to purchase at least 44 semi-auto AR and AK style rifles and pistols over a four-month period in 2015.
Investigators said Prezas, often in uniform, talked the other members of the ring into purchasing the firearms at area gun shops with his money then passed them on others including one who was subsequently delivering them to members of the Gulf Cartel criminal syndicate in Mexico. On occasion, Prezas received guns at his recruiting station in San Antonio and drove them to meet buyers in his government vehicle.
The firearms included four Anderson AR-15 lower receivers, 12 Zastava N-PAP M70

Source: Guns.com