U.S. Department of Justice

United States Attorney
Western District of Texas

www.justice.gov/usao/txw

For Immediate Release

May 14, 2010

Mission, Texas Man Sentenced to Federal Prison for Possession of a Machine Gun

United States Attorney John E. Murphy announced that in San Antonio this morning, 25-year old Jesse Eduardo Patlan of Mission, Texas, was sentenced to five years in federal prison for unlawfully possessing a machine gun.

In addition, United States District Judge Fred Biery ordered that Patlan be placed under supervised release for three years after completing his prison term.

Pleading guilty on January 28, 2010, Patlan admitted that he paid $1,400 to an undercover federal agent for a machine gun — a R.I.A., Model XM 15, .223-5.56 caliber assault rifle — on May 1, 2009. According to court records, agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives investigating straw purchasers and trafficking in assault weapons identified Patlan as a person of interest. Further investigation revealed that two Beretta 92FS 9mm pistols purchased on December 22, 2007, in McAllen, Texas–one by Patlan, the other by a relative–had both been recovered in Zacapa, Guatemala, following a cartel drug battle on March 25, 2008.

Assistant United States Attorney Ray Gattinella prosecuted this case on behalf of the government.

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