A man who federal prosecutors say admitted to recruiting family members and others to buy guns at Austin-area gun stores that were later sold to a member of the Zetas drug cartel in Mexico was sentenced to nine years and two months in prison Friday.
U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel told Jose Lira that he does not know how many people have been killed because of the smuggled weapons, but “There is no doubt in this court’s mind that people have died because of the the actions of these defendants.”
Lira, who pleaded guilty to three crimes, including conspiracy, could have faced up to 25 years. But prosecutors asked Yeakel for a more lenient sentence, citing Lira’s cooperation after the smuggling ring was busted, including his testimony at the May federal trial of his mother and half brother.
Lira was the first of 20 people convicted in the case to be sentenced. His mother, Aurelia Ochoa Hernandez, who sold the guns to the cartel after receiving them from Lira, was convicted of a series of federal crimes and faces sentencing in August.
Prosecutor Mark Lane said the group smuggled almost 100 weapons to Mexico. He called Hernandez “a rotten woman.”
Statesman
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