A Phoenix man has received a 12-year prison sentence for smuggling firearms and intent to distribute drugs.
Pedro Adan Sevilla, 25, was sentenced on April 25 after previously pleading guilty to conspiracy to smuggle goods from the United States, possession with intent to distribute fentanyl and possession of a firearm during and in relation to a drug trafficking crime, according to a news release by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
“This sentencing sends a clear message to those contemplating in engaging in smuggling activity. Criminals like this defendant should think twice,” Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Phoenix Special Agent in Charge Scott Brown said in the news release. “HSI and our law enforcement partners, working together, will seek, investigate and ultimately bring to justice all those who seek to disregard our nation’s laws.”
According to the release, the conviction was reached after a September 2019 investigation led by ICEHSI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and the U.S. Border Patrol. Investigators discovered that from June to September 2019, Sevilla and 28-year-old Tucson codefendant, Francisco Dario Mora, purchased firearms from the United States that were recovered in Mexico by Mexican law-enforcement officials. Investigators discovered 40 firearms that the duo conspired to export to Mexico, including AK rifles and AR pistols, 760 magazines and 25,000 rounds of ammunition.
In November 2019, ATF investigators carried out a search warrant at Sevilla’s Phoenix residence and discovered 19 grams of cocaine and 11.9 points of fentanyl pills in a bedroom safe, six bags of fentanyl pills inside a bag in Sevilla’s bedroom, an AR pistol with a loaded magazine, $12,970 cash and a “digital narcotics sale,” according to the release. They also searched homes and vehicles tied to the men in Tucson and Phoenix.
Mora received his prison sentence of five years related to smuggling activity in April 2021, the release said.
According to the release, HSI is a directorate of ICE and the main investigative branch of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, dealing with “transnational crime and threats.”
