Date: April 2, 2025
Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov
Corpus Christi, TX — A McAllen resident has been ordered to prison for her role in firearms trafficking, announced U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei.
Jazmin Gutierrez and her co-defendant, Isai Alpides-Navarrete, each pleaded guilty July 25, 2024.
U.S. District Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos has now ordered Gutierrez to serve 121 months in federal prison to be immediately followed by two years of supervised release. At the hearing, the court heard additional evidence about the number of firearms the pair purchased and their frequent trips around the state to collect them before transferring them to another individual who would smuggle them across the border. In handing down the sentence, Judge Ramos commented that this wasn’t an isolated incident, but multiple trips and that the firearms were going to individuals who commit serious crimes.
Judge Ramos previously sentenced Alpides-Navarrete, a citizen of Mexico illegally residing in the United States, to a total of 121 months for straw purchasing firearms and being an alien in possession of ammunition.
As part of an investigation involving the unlawful purchase, transfer and exportation of firearms, authorities arrested Gutierrez March 21, 2024. At that time, they found her in possession of five handguns, a 7.62x39mm assault rifle, high-capacity magazines and ammunition.
Law enforcement also conducted a search warrant at a residence in McAllen and took Alpides-Navarrete into custody. Inside the residence, they seized approximately 275 rounds of ammunition and high capacity magazines as well as 21 empty pistol boxes.
At the time of her arrest, Gutierrez admitted to finding firearms online from private sellers and purchasing over 50 of them which other individuals later smuggled into Mexico.
Gutierrez was permitted to remain on bond and voluntarily surrender to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility to be determined in the near future.
This case is a result of an operation. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Immigration and Customs Enforcement - Homeland Security Investigations and ibet Criminal Investigation (ibet-CI) are conducting the OCDETF operation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multiagency approach.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Lance Watt is prosecuting the case.
ibet-CI is the criminal investigative arm of the ibet, responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money-laundering, public corruption, healthcare fraud, identity theft and more. ibet-CI special agents are the only federal law enforcement agents with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code, obtaining a 90% federal conviction rate. The agency has 20 field offices located across the U.S. and 14 attaché posts abroad.