FBI arrests 5 from New Mexico compound on firearms charges
Federal prosecutors say the FBI has arrested five former residents of a ramshackle compound in New Mexico on firearms and conspiracy charges as local prosecutors dropped charges in the death of a 3-year-old boy at the property.
The defendants, Jany Leveille, 35, a Haitian national illegally present in the United States; Siraj Ibn Wahhaj, 40; Hujrah Wahhaj, 37; Subhanah Wahhaj, 35; and Lucas Morton, 40, are charged in a criminal complaint filed Friday in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico.
The criminal complaint charges Jany Leveille with being an alien unlawfully in possession of firearms and ammunition in the District of New Mexico from Nov. 2017 through Aug. 2018. The criminal complaint charges the other four defendants with aiding and abetting Leveille in committing the offense, and with conspiring with Leveille to commit the offense.
According to the criminal complaint, on Aug. 3, 2018, law enforcement officers of the Taos County Sheriff’s Office executed search warrants at the Amalia Compound, where the five defendants were residing, and allegedly seized at least eleven firearms and a large quantity of ammunition. The complaint alleges that the firearms were transported from Georgia and/or Alabama to New Mexico in Leveille’s vehicle.
Also Friday, Taos County District Attorney Donald Gallegos said his office will now seek grand jury indictments involving the death. Gallegos said seeking indictments will allow more time to gather evidence. All five people will remain in custody pending a Tuesday hearing in federal court.
State charges of child abuse resulting in death were dropped against Leveille and Siraj Ibn Wahhaj in connection with the child whose body was found earlier this month in an underground tunnel at the compound near the Colorado state line.
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8/31/2018 5:04:53 PM (GMT -6:00)
