A Douglas man, Uriel Gonzalez-Perez, a former Mexican police officer, was sentenced to prison after pleading guilty to possession of child pornography and conspiracy to commit false statements in connection with the illegal purchase of firearms.
Gonzalez-Perez was sentenced to concurrent terms of 120 months’ imprisonment and 46 months’ imprisonment, followed by three years of supervised release.
According to the Department of Justice, on December 8, 2017, Gonzalez-Perez was stopped during an outbound inspection at the Douglas Port of Entry. His vehicle contained 500 .50 caliber BMG links, items that are prohibited from being exported without a license.
Investigators found that Gonzalez-Perez and his two co-defendants were obtaining firearms and ammunition by falsifying paperwork required to purchase firearms legally. Gonzalez-Perez was illegally exporting the firearms and other items to Mexico.
Investigators conducted a search of Gonzalez-Perez’s cell phone revealed numerous photos and videos of child pornography. Agents with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) were able to identify the child and adult female depicted in the images; they were living in Puerto Penasco, Mexico and HSI provided that information to Mexican authorities. Mexican authorities arrested the adult female, who was the child’s mother, and she was later sentenced to fifteen years’ imprisonment in Sonora, Mexico.