Ocala, Florida - United States Attorney A. Lee Bentley, III, announces that Luis Rafael Infantes (21, Elizabethtown, KY) has pleaded guilty to theft of government property. He faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in federal prison. A sentencing date has not yet been set.
Infantes’s father, Pedro Luis Infantes, previously entered a guilty plea to the same charge on Oct. 21, 2014. His sentencing date has been scheduled for Jan. 22, 2015.
According to the plea agreement, on July 11, 2014, Infantes and his father unwittingly met with a confidential source who was working in cooperation with law enforcement. Infantes and his father believed that the source had connections to potential buyers affiliated with Mexican drug trafficking organizations. Ultimately, Infantes and his father negotiated a sale price of $153,500 for 17 military-grade, thermal- imaging monoculars, rifle cleaning kits, and other assorted military equipment that had been stolen from the government.
When the father later attempted to complete the transaction, he was arrested and interviewed by the FBI. The father provided false statements to agents about how he had acquired the military items and how the serial numbers on the items had been removed. Pedro Luis Infantes stated that he had purchased the equipment in that condition at assorted gun shows. In reality, Luis Rafael Infantes, an active-duty supply sergeant for the United States Army, had stolen the items from the Fort Knox military installation.
This case is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Robert E. Bodnar, Jr.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
