Border Patrol agents accused of stealing $100K in gun parts from agency
By Jennifer Cruz
Half of the boxes containing gun parts were found at the Border Patrol station in Arizona, while the other half were found at a personal residence about 60 miles away. (Photo: U.S. District Court)
The trial began last week for two Border Patrol agents who are accused of stealing more than $100,000 worth of gun parts from the agency by using the postal service to ship the parts from the agency’s armory in West Virginia to a Border Patrol station in Arizona.
Agent Jesus Manuel Franco and Agent Edgardo Jose Munoz Cruz were indicted by a federal grand jury in February 2016 on charges of conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States, mail fraud, possession and transfer of a machine gun, and theft of government property. Both have been indefinitely suspended, pending the outcome of the trial.
An investigation was launched in January 2015, after a gun barrel was seen sticking out of a cardboard box that had been delivered to the Willcox Station in Arizona via United Parcel Service. Authorities discovered some $50,000 worth of gun parts in packages at the Willcox Station, as well as an additional $50,000 worth of parts in boxes stacked inside Franco’s garage in
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