Feds: Guns bought in Georgia were headed to Mexico
File Photo: Silas Stein/Getty Images
FAYETTEVILLE, Ga. - Federal prosecutors say a Fayetteville couple faces years in prison after pleading guilty to multiple felony charges tied to illegal firearm possession and gun trafficking.
What we know:
According to the United States Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Georgia, Brenda Rojano-Gonzalez, 26, an undocumented immigrant from Mexico, pleaded guilty earlier this year to possessing a firearm while prohibited from doing so under federal law.
Her husband, Steven Estrada Feregrino, 29, pleaded guilty May 11 to perjury and making false statements to a federally licensed firearms dealer.
Investigators said the case began in August 2025 when Estrada paid another woman $4,600 to purchase seven firearms from a gun store in Fayetteville on his behalf. Prosecutors allege the woman falsely claimed she was the actual buyer before turning the guns over to Estrada and another man, Miguel Angela Varela-Posas.
Authorities said the firearms were later recovered at the Del Rio, Texas port of entry inside a van traveling toward Mexico.
Two months later, investigators said Rojano-Gonzalez was recorded on surveillance video handling and firing a gun at a Fayette County shooting range. Federal officials later arrested her on immigration-related charges.
Prosecutors said Estrada then falsely testified during an immigration hearing that his wife had never fired a weapon at a gun range in an effort to help secure her release from custody.
"Illegal aliens are strictly prohibited from possessing weapons in our country, and federal law prudently prohibits lawful residents from telling lies to facilitate illicit gun trafficking," U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg said in a statement.
Rojano-Gonzalez is scheduled to be sentenced June 11, while Estrada is expected to be sentenced Aug. 14.
Federal prosecutors also charged Varela-Posas, 30, of Puebla, Mexico, with multiple offenses, including illegal reentry into the United States, firearm possession charges and possession of counterfeit documents. Authorities noted he is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.
What we don't know:
No photos were provided of the couple.