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http://newsok.com/arrested-oklahoma...le/3484492?custom_click=headlines_widgetAn Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics agent charged with trafficking firearms to Mexico was followed by authorities for several days, apparently unaware he was under surveillance.
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Francisco Javier Reyes, 29, was arraigned Tuesday in federal court after his arrest by Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents. He is charged in connection with a gunrunning scheme that led to the trafficking of firearms to Mexico, according to court records.
Federal authorities allege Reyes, of Oklahoma City, recruited two friends to buy guns for him. The guns later were transported south toward Mexico, where authorities think they were to be delivered.
Reyes resigned from the bureau and was ordered freed on personal recognizance bond.
On June 9, ATF agents followed Reyes from Oklahoma City to Woodward, where he stopped at Butch's Gun Shop, 5005 W Oklahoma Ave., a court affidavit states. He came out with two men and a .50-caliber gun case, which ATF agents had equipped with a tracking device, the affidavit states. The men put the case in the back of Reyes' sport utility vehicle, and agents followed Reyes back to Oklahoma City and eventually to Purcell.
Reyes pulled into a parking lot with a black BMW M3 convertible along Interstate 35 in Purcell, then Reyes headed north and the BMW left headed south, according to the affidavit. The tracking device then showed the gun case was in the BMW. It later exited the freeway and when it got back on, it appeared to be "driving in tandem" with a tan Range Rover. Authorities later determined the case was in the Range Rover, which later parked at a Lewisville, Texas, residence with the BMW, the affidavit states.
Officials eventually tracked the .50-caliber gun case to a Dallas apartment complex which was then put on 24-hour surveillance, the affidavit states. Agents followed the gun's movements for about a week and eventually worked with Texas troopers to pull over a Ford Explorer and a Saturn car for traffic violations near the Mexican border, the affidavit states.
The Explorer had the .50-caliber rifle inside with its serial number scratched off and 12 assault rifles. The Saturn had one pistol and 30 assault rifles inside, and agents said many of the guns had obliterated serial numbers, the affidavit states.
Agents also seized on May 20 a 7.62mm rifle they think was headed for Mexico and had been originally bought by Reyes, according to the affidavit. Reyes told agents he had traded the gun to someone else for a .22-caliber rifle.
Agents watched Reyes buy two rifles from a man on whom the ATF had placed surveillance equipment on July 22 at the Bass Pro Shops parking lot in Oklahoma City, the affidavit states. The ATF followed Reyes for three days and eventually followed him to the same Lewisville, Texas, residence where the Range Rover and BMW had parked.
Speeding complaint
Reyes was stopped on July 25 in Denton County on a speeding complaint, and a sheriff's deputy found a bag of suspected marijuana, checks for $27,700 and $6,000 inside an unlocked briefcase and sheets of notebook paper with currency amounts, gun models and manufacturers, the affidavit states.
Referring to the drugs, Reyes told deputies he was bringing "some of his work home" with him and said he and a partner traded firearms, the affidavit states. It is unclear if Reyes was arrested in the traffic stop.
Jorge Alexis Blanco, who is named in the affidavit as one of the men Reyes recruited to buy guns for him, bought at least 15 guns and attempted to buy three more, ATF Special Agent Michael Randall wrote in the affidavit.
Blanco told investigators he had known Reyes for about six years and that he was planning on opening a business with him, Kiko's Hookah Lounge, in Stillwater.
Federal firearms dealer records show Blanco bought five Century AK-47 semiautomatic rifles April 14 from Outdoor America, 1925 N MacArthur Blvd., and five more from the same store April 27.
The next day, Blanco bought five Chinese-made SKS 7.62 mm semiautomatic rifles from Big Boy's Guns and Ammo, 7211 S Council Road, with a "wad" of $100 bills, store owner Mike Blackwell told agents. Blanco told him he was buying the guns for family members.
Blanco returned to the store with his girlfriend two days later and tried to buy three more of the rifles, the affidavit states. When Blackwell told him the purchase process for those rifles was "delayed," his girlfriend attempted to buy them. Blackwell said Blanco needed to purchase the rifles because he picked them out, so Blanco gave him his driver's license but the process was still delayed.
Blanco told agents May 1 that he spent about $6,000 to $7,000 provided by Reyes to buy the guns, and Reyes paid him $750 for his efforts, according to the affidavit. The next day, he told agents he had lied to them and he bought them for friends as gifts. Blanco, who had previously told the agents he was a "poor college kid," said he had the money to buy the guns left over from student financial aid, the affidavit states.
Kyle Wooten was another man investigators think bought guns on Reyes' behalf, the affidavit states. He bought 14 assault rifles, 10 of them AK-47s, from Outdoor America in purchases April 13 and April 20, paying almost $6,500 in cash. He also bought a Bushmaster BA50.50-caliber rifle from H&H Gun Range, 400 S Vermont St., with ammunition for $5,467.48 in cash.
According to the affidavit, Wooten was found dead by his girlfriend April 22 on the bathroom floor of their apartment, the morning after Wooten went to Oklahoma City to buy guns on Reyes' behalf. The affidavit states an autopsy was not performed on Wooten because of "a pending toxicology report."
Reyes' public defender, Paul Lacy, asked to withdraw as Reyes' attorney Wednesday, citing a conflict of interest because he is representing a defendant in a pending case in which Reyes is a government witness, court records show. A U.S. District Court magistrate appointed Robert Wyatt as Reyes' new attorney.
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