A U.S. Border Patrol was sentenced Wednesday for his role in stealing firearms including devices for machine-guns and sneaking them into Arizona.
Jesus Manuel Franco wasn’t merely a federal agent; he was a Border Patrol firearms instructor. Prosecutors say that in 2014, he and a second agent stole about $100,000 worth of firearms parts from an agency armory in Harper’s Ferry West Virginia. And then mailed those boxes of weapon parts to the Border Patrol’s Willcox Arizona station for personal use.
Those stolen shipments included machinegun conversion devices, prosecutors said.
They also showed that in 2014, Franco texted his accomplice in the middle of the months long theft and said: "I almost feel a tiny little bit of shame… LOL".
He was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison.
Records do not state what Franco intended the weaponry for.
