Juarez man pleads guilty to conspiring to traffick firearms upon illegal re-entry to the U.S. through El Paso

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- A man from Juarez pled guilty to one count of conspiring to traffick firearms and one count of illegal re-entry to the U.S. in a federal court in El Paso, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

The DOJ said in a release that Erick Arenas Pascual, 22, was arrested along with a second, unnamed defendant on January 25 of this year. Pascual admitted to driving the co-defendant to a Federal Firearms Licensee in El Paso, where the co-defendant allegedly bought a handgun. ATF agents arrested the pair as they left the FFL, and found a second recently purchased handgun with 100 rounds of ammunition.

According to the release, an investigation revealed Pascual had previously delivered guns to people who would smuggle them into Mexico, and planned to do so in this case. The investigation also revealed that Pascual is not a U.S. citizen, and was previously deported through El Paso in August of 2020.

Pascual faces up to 15 years in prison for the conspiracy charge, and up to two years in prison for the illegal re-entry charge.

The ATF is investigating the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Juan Albino and Nallely Barbosa are prosecuting the case.