2 California Army National Guardsmen sentenced for illegally selling guns, ammunition

Two soldiers in the California Army National Guard were sentenced Monday for selling guns, ammunition and military equipment to an undercover federal agent.

Andrew Reyes, a Marine veteran who joined the guard in 2008, will spend one year and one day in prison. His co-conspirator, fellow guardsman Jaime Casillas, received credit for time served.

Both men pleaded guilty in January to one charge of selling firearms without a federal license, according to court documents. Reyes also plead guilty to three charges of unlicensed transportation of firearms.

Court documents show the two men facilitated the sales of several AR-15s, ammunition and ballistic vests to an undercover Drug Enforcement Administration agent posing as a member of a Mexican drug cartel between September 2014 and March 2015.

The deals totaled more than $15,000, court records show.

The men bought the weapons and equipment from a source in Texas before selling them to the undercover agent. A federal judge authorized placing multiple tracking devices on Reyes’s vehicle throughout the investigation.

Authorities arrested Reyes and Casillas in April 2015 — one month after Casillas offered to sell the undercover agent a .50-caliber rifle for $15,000. Law enforcement executed a search warrant on both men’s residences, but never recovered the rifle.

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