LAS CRUCES, N.M. — An ousted border-town police chief entered a guilty plea in federal court in Las Cruces on Thursday afternoon to taking part in a 15-person smuggling ring that provided the La Linea cartel in Mexico with firearms and tactical gear.
Former Columbus, N.M., police chief Angelo Vega, who remains in federal custody, pleaded guilty to conspiracy as well as new charges of aiding in the smuggling of weapons and extortion under color of official right before U.S. Magistrate Court Judge William P. Lynch.
He faces a maximum of 35 years in prison and $750,000 in fines at sentencing, which has not yet been scheduled.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Steve Spitzer told the court that former village trustee Blas "Woody" Gutierrez and Eddie Espinoza (his uncle, by marriage) approached Vega in October, 2010, to ask him to join them in working for the Jucrez-based La Linea cartel and paid him more than $10,000 between then and March.
Espinoza and Gutierrez have already pleaded guilty in the case.
As a participant in the conspiracy, Vega conducted counter-surveillance, used a village-owned Ford F150 truck to transport firearms from the country, pulled over a car of ATF agents at La Linea's request, and tried to get ATF agents to return firearms to Gutierrez after they were seized, Spitzer told the court.
And on Feb. 10, Vega purchased thousands of dollars in body armor, boots, helmets and clothing, including a bulletproof vest for a La Linea leader, whose name was not mentioned in court, Spitzer said.
As in other plea agreements, Vega pleaded guilty with the understanding that he might receive less than the maximum sentence. Vega also reserves the right to withdraw his guilty plea if a judge does not agree to the terms upon which Vega and prosecutors have agreed.
After the guilty plea, defense attorney Jess Lilley put his arm around the shoulder of Vega, dressed in a red jumpsuit and shackled at the wrists and ankles, and exchanged a few words with him. Vega looked briefly at his ex-wife, brother and other family members in the audience before being escorted from the courtroom.
Lilley declined to say what range of sentence Vega was expecting, saying, "it's not months – it's years" and said it was not new evidence that led to the new charges.
"He's only 40 years old and he's been in law enforcement 20 years," Lilley told reporters after the hearing. "He's done a lot for the communities he's worked in. He's, obviously, made a few poor choices. Those poor choices don't make somebody a bad person. He's ready to move on."
Asked why Vega did as he did, Lilley offered little explanation.
"He doesn't want to make any excuses for the poor choices he made," Lilley said. He added: "Once you get caught up into things, you make poor choices. I think it kind of snowballed."
Nor would Lilley say if there had been pressure from La Linea or threats of violence if Vega hadn't participated in the conspiracy.
"Even if there was pressure on him," he said, "he's not making any excuses."
Vega had previously pleaded not guilty to taking part in the conspiracy, in which he and his co-defendants allegedly purchased about 200 firearms – including AK-47-type pistols, weapons resembling AK-47 rifles, but with shorter barrels and without rear stocks, and American Tactical 9 mm caliber pistols – from Chaparral Guns in Chaparral and smuggled them to members of the Jucrez-based La Linea cartel between January 2010 and March 2011.
In raids, law enforcement seized 40 of the AK-47 type pistols, more than 1,500 rounds of ammunition and 30 high-capacity magazines before they crossed the border, and found another 12 firearms in Mexico that were traced back to the defendants. Three others were found on three dead individuals in an SUV in Jucrez, and others were found at a narcotics bust there, according to federal prosecutors.
Six of the smuggled weapons – three AK-47-type pistols and three pistols nicknamed "cop killers" – were purchased around Jan. 9, 2010, by straw purchasers in Arizona, according to court documents, leading to accusations from defense attorney C.J. McElhinney that the Columbus smuggling case was connected to Operation Fast and Furious. The undercover operation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives allowed thousands of guns to cross into Mexico so that agents could see where in the drug cartels they would eventually end up.
The U.S. Attorney's Office in Texas has neither confirmed nor denied whether the weapons in Gutierrez's case were connected with the controversial sting, but said Thursday they were researching the matter.
Apart from Igancio "Nacho" Villalobos, the only defendant who remains on the run, just one of the 15 defendants arrested since March has not entered into plea agreements: Gutierrez's wife, Gabrielle Gutierrez , who remains free on supervised release on a $10,000 secured bond.
Sentencing for Vega's co-defendants is not expected for several months.
