DOJ Seal

Department of Justice

U.S. Attorney's Office
District of New Mexico

For Immediate Release

Thursday, June 9, 2016
Damon P. Martinez
, United States Attorney
Contact: Elizabeth M. Martinez

Hobbs Man Pleads Guilty to Illegally Possessing an Unregistered Short-Barreled Shotgun

ALBUQUERQUE – Quinton Spurlock, 50, of Hobbs, N.M., pled guilty yesterday afternoon in federal court in Las Cruces, N.M., to violating the federal firearms laws by illegally possessing an unregistered short-barreled shotgun.

Spurlock was arrested on April 6, 2016, on a criminal complaint charging him with possession of an unregistered firearm.  According to the complaint, on April 15, 2014, Lea County Drug Task Force (LCDTF) agents executed a search warrant at a residence in Hobbs, and found a handgun and shotgun cases inside Spurlock’s vehicle.   Further investigations determined that Spurlock had no weapons registered to him and the firearm was also not registered.

During yesterday’s proceedings, Spurlock pled guilty to a felony information charging him with possession of an unregistered short-barreled shotgun.  In entering the guilty plea, Spurlock admitted that on April 15, 2014, he was in possession of a shotgun with an overall barrel length of approximately 16 inches that was not registered to him.

At sentencing, Spurlock faces a statutory maximum penalty of ten years in federal prison.  A sentencing hearing has yet to be scheduled.

This case was investigated by the Las Cruces office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the LCDTF.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Terri J. Abernathy is prosecuting the case. 

The Lea County Drug Task Force is comprised of officers from the Lea County Sheriff’s Office, Hobbs Police Department, Lovington Police Department, Eunice Police Department the Tatum Police Department and the Jal Police Department, and is part of the NM HIDTA Region VI Drug Task Force.  The High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTA) program was created by Congress with the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988.  HIDTA is a program of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) which provides assistance to federal, state, local and tribal law enforcement agencies operating in areas determined to be critical drug-trafficking regions of the United States and seeks to reduce drug trafficking and production by facilitating coordinated law enforcement activities and information sharing.

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Phoenix Field Division