COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa – The U-S Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa report two Nebraska men and two Iowa men were sentenced for conspiracy to provide false statements during the purchase of firearms.

According to public court documents, in late October 2022 through May 2023, Alfredo Rios, Jr., 28, a Nebraska resident, Christian Javier Rios Magana, 23, a Nebraska resident, Martin Velazquez Trujillo, 49, an Iowa resident, and Victor Alfonso Magana-Ahumada, 38, an Iowa resident, conspired to make false statements to federally licensed firearm dealers to fraudulently obtain firearms. As part of the conspiracy, the firearms purchasers falsely stated they were the actual transferee or buyer of the firearm. The fraudulently acquired firearms were illegally shipped to Mexico.

On Thursday, December 12, 2024, Magana-Ahumada was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison. After completing his term of imprisonment, Magana-Ahumada will be required to serve a three-year term of supervised release.

On June 5, 2024, co-conspirators Alfredo Rios, Jr., Rios Magana, and Velazquez Trujillo each received five months’ terms of probation. “The purchase of a firearm intended for someone else, is straw purchasing and it is illegal,” said Bernard G. Hansen, ATF Special Agent in Charge, Kansas City Field Division. “Doing so circumvents background checks and record keeping requirements that are intended to keep the public safe and impede access to firearms by prohibited and often violent criminals. Firearms trafficking is not a victimless crime; it is illegal and puts firearms in the hands of said prohibited and violent criminals. These investigations are a priority for ATF in our mission of reducing violent gun crime.”

United States Attorney Richard D. Westphal of the Southern District of Iowa made the announcement. This case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, Homeland Security Investigations, and the United States Postal Inspection Service.

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results. For more information about Project Safe Neighborhoods, please visit Justice.gov/PSN.