A 29-year-old Florida man on Wednesday pleaded guilty to smuggling firearms from the United States and conspiracy to use a facility of interstate commerce in the commission of a murder-for-hire.
Antonio Jose Melean Reyes, 29, Jacksonville, faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in federal prison for each offense. A sentencing date has not yet been set.
According to his plea agreement, on May 15, 2021, Reyes attempted to smuggle three firearms and 57 rounds of ammunition from Jacksonville to Venezuela.
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Reyes concealed the firearms and ammunition in a futon that he attempted to mail using a freight forwarding service. Employees from the freight service observed the firearms during a routine x-ray of the parcel carrying the futon and contacted law enforcement.
On May 22, 2021, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agents seized the three firearms, which included a Glock 17 pistol and 2 Smith and Wesson M&P 15 rifles.
The Glock pistol and one of the Smith and Wesson rifles had obliterated serial numbers. Forensic technicians at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) restored the obliterated serial numbers, which allowed ATF agents to trace the firearms to a subject in Jacksonville. The shipping documents also included Reyes’s phone number and address.
Following Reyes’s arrest on unrelated state charges on August 11, 2023, federal agents from ATF, HSI, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) searched Reyes’s cellphone and found conversations between Reyes and another individual discussing trafficking firearms to Venezuela.
From Reyes’s phone, agents also learned Reyes and others were involved in a murder-for-hire plot. Between July 12 and August 9, 2023, Reyes and others surveilled two intended victims to murder them based on a $60,000 debt.
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Reyes and others followed the two victims to various locations around Jacksonville, including outside their home. Reyes attempted to hire a hitman for $15,000, but federal agents prevented any murder from occurring by arresting Reyes on a criminal complaint.
This case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Aakash Singh.
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