The following information is released in cooperation
with the United States Attorney District of Idaho
CONTACT: PAMELA BEARG
Public Information Officer
MARC HAWS
Assistant U.S. Attorney
(208) 334-1211
Mexican National Pleads Guilty to Illegally Possessing a
Firearm
BOISE - Arnulfo Villagomez-Franco, 38, a
Mexican national formerly living in Boise, pled guilty today to
counts one and two of a federal indictment charging him with
deported alien found in the United States, possession of a firearm
by a prohibited person, and forfeiture of a firearm, announced U.S.
Attorney Wendy J. Olson.
According to the plea agreement, on July
5, 2011, during a search of Villagomez-Franco's home in Boise, he
was found in possession of an unregistered, sawed-off 12 gauge
shotgun. Because Villagomez-Franco was previously convicted of
delivery of a controlled substance on January 25, 1996, in Ada
County, Idaho, a felony offense punishable by a term of
imprisonment exceeding one year, he is prohibited from possessing
firearms. Villagomez-Franco admitted possessing the firearm. At the
time of his arrest, Villagomez-Franco was illegally and unlawfully
in the United States, and had previously been deported to Mexico on
April 6, 1998. As part of his plea, Villagomez-Franco agreed to
forfeit the firearm to the United States.
Deported alien found in the United
States, as charged in count one of the indictment, is punishable by
up to 20 years in prison; the charge of possession of a firearm by
a prohibited person, as charged in count two, carries a maximum
prison term of 10 years. Both charges each carry a maximum fine of
$250,000, and up to three years of supervised release.
Villagomez-Franco is scheduled to be
sentenced on June 11, 2012, by U.S. District Judge Edward J. Lodge
at the federal courthouse in Boise.
The case was investigated by the Boise
Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and
Explosives (ATF), and prosecuted as part of Idaho's Project Safe
Neighborhoods Program, which seeks to reduce gun violence in
Idaho.