{"id":438979,"date":"2026-09-17T16:52:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-17T16:52:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/438979\/"},"modified":"2026-09-17T16:52:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-17T16:52:09","slug":"169-guns-in-amarillo-gun-trafficking-case-prosecutors-say-were-tied-to-sinaloa-cartel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/438979\/","title":{"rendered":"169 guns in Amarillo gun-trafficking case prosecutors say were tied to Sinaloa Cartel"},"content":{"rendered":"

AMARILLO, Texas (KVII) \u2014 Federal prosecutors identified 169 firearms they are seeking to forfeit in an Amarillo gun-trafficking case they allege was intended to supply the Sinaloa Carte<\/a>l.<\/p>\n

The detailed list, filed Monday in U.S. District Court, includes handguns, revolvers and rifles \u2014 including several military-style and older surplus firearms \u2014 as well as ammunition, magazines and accessories. <\/p>\n

hall_firearms_type_makemodel_summary_first_tabPDF previewPreview PDF<\/p>\n

View PDF<\/a><\/p>\n

A federal grand jury in June indicted Loyd Walter Hall, Jesus Quezada Meza, Omar Velasquez and Catlynn Ann Townsend on charges including conspiracy to traffic firearms and conspiracy to make straw purchases of firearms<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors have alleged the defendants bought guns in Amarillo to be smuggled into Mexico for the Sinaloa Cartel.<\/p>\n

The government\u2019s bill of particulars lists the firearms individually, beginning with an Auto-Ordnance Thompson 1927 A-1 rifle, Glock and Sig Sauer pistols, and continuing through rifles made by manufacturers including Colt, Ruger, Winchester, Enfield, Mauser and Mosin-Nagant. Prosecutors also seek forfeiture of firearms-sales records, including ATF forms and acquisition-and-disposition books.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, U.S. District Judge Matthew J. Kacsmaryk ordered Velasquez held without bond pending trial, overturning a California magistrate judge\u2019s earlier release order.<\/p>\n

Velasquez did not oppose the government\u2019s request for detention, according to the Aug. 12 order.<\/p>\n

Kacsmaryk found Velasquez presented both a serious flight risk and a danger to the community. The order cites the government\u2019s unrebutted allegations that Velasquez had at least 27 inbound crossings from Mexico into the United States between January 2025 and March 2026, used at least nine vehicles to make those crossings and had few ties to the Amarillo area.<\/p>\n

The judge also cited allegations that messages recovered from a phone seized during a raid on a suspected Sinaloa Cartel compound discussed trafficking firearms across the border, shootouts, explosives and methods of concealing contraband.<\/p>\n

The court said evidence presented by prosecutors indicated Velasquez played an integral role in the cartel\u2019s alleged international weapons-smuggling operation. Kacsmaryk found that no release conditions would reasonably ensure Velasquez\u2019s appearance in court or protect the public.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"AMARILLO, Texas (KVII) \u2014 Federal prosecutors identified 169 firearms they are seeking to forfeit in an Amarillo gun-trafficking…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":438980,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[82,84,83],"class_list":["post-438979","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio-headlines","tag-san-antonio-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438979","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=438979"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438979\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/438980"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=438979"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=438979"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=438979"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}