El Paso, Texas Man Sentenced to Forty-Six Months for Unlawful Possession of Stolen Firearms

ALBUQUERQUE – Emanuel Medina, 24, of El Paso, Texas, was sentenced today in federal court in Las Cruces, N.M., to 46 months in federal prison followed by two years of supervised release for unlawfully possessing stolen firearms.

Medina and co-defendant Pete Richard Ferraro, 23, of Chaparral, N.M., were arrested on Oct. 25, 2013, on a criminal complaint alleging that he unlawfully possessed firearms between Oct. 11, 2013 and Oct. 23, 2013, in Doña Ana County, N.M. According to the complaint, on Oct. 22, 2013, an officer of the El Paso Police Department reported that a rifle and a shotgun were missing from his unmarked police vehicle. The results of a latent prints examination revealed that Ferraro left his fingerprints on the police vehicle. During the course of the investigation, Medina was interviewed and implicated himself in the theft of the firearms. The firearms were recovered in two Chaparral residences.

On May 27, 2014, Medina pled guilty to a felony information charging him with possession of stolen firearms. In his plea agreement, Medina admitted that Ferraro and he broke into the officer’s vehicle, stole the firearms and transported the firearms from Texas to New Mexico.

Ferraro entered a guilty plea to possession of stolen firearms on July 23, 2014. Ferraro has been in federal custody since his arrest and remains detained pending sentencing, which has yet to be scheduled. At sentencing, he faces a maximum statutory penalty of ten years in prison.

This case was brought as part of a federal anti-violence initiative that targets “the worst of the worst” offenders for federal prosecution. Under this initiative, the U.S. Attorney’s Office and federal law enforcement agencies work with New Mexico’s District Attorneys and state, local and tribal law enforcement agencies to target violent or repeat offenders for federal prosecution with the goal of removing repeat offenders from communities in New Mexico for as long as possible.

This case was investigated by the El Paso Group III Field Office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the El Paso Police Department, and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Randy Castellano of the U.S. Attorney’s Las Cruces Branch Office.