A federal prosecutor is challenging a magistrate’s decision to release from jail a twice-deported Mexican immigrant accused of running 18,000 rounds of high-caliber ammunition through Wyoming.
Ricardo Paez-Quinones, 35, was arrested in March after Wyoming Highway Patrol Trooper Nathaniel Philpot pulled him over for speeding on Interstate 80 near Rawlins, then spotted several rounds of ammunition in Quinones’ vehicle, court documents say.
Charged in March with being an illegal alien in possession of ammunition, Paez-Quinones could face up to 15 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, and/or deportation if convicted.
An evidentiary affidavit says that a Carbon County Sheriff’s Office deputy and a K-9 officer arrived at the March 12 traffic stop, and the dog alerted to the scent of drugs in the vehicle. Investigators then searched the vehicle and found 36 boxes of 500 rounds of high-caliber ammunition each, and some cocaine, the document says.
The ammunition boxes bore the name “Precision Made Cartridges” and the label indicated the caliber was 7.62x51 NATO and that it was centerfire rifle ammunition, the affidavit adds.
Investigators also found large amounts of cash, says the document.
The affidavit says Paez-Quinones’ fingerprints bore a positive match to a “removed alien” by the same name who was deported in 2012 and 2014.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Cameron Cook, of Wyoming, argued in a motion last week that Paez-Quinones’ actions indicate that he’s contributing to drug cartel operations.
The prosecutor is urging the case judge to bring Paez-Quinones back to jail to be detained while he awaits trial.
The judge has not yet ruled on that request.
Released
U.S. Chief Magistrate Judge Scott Klosterman at a March 21 detention hearing set Paez-Quinones’ bond at $20,000, unsecured – meaning Paez-Quinones could get out of jail without having to post the money up front.
Paez-Quinones was then released, the U.S. Attorney’s office for Wyoming confirmed Tuesday via its spokeswoman.
The magistrate ordered Paez-Quinones, who reported a home address out of Colorado Springs, to appear for court in Cheyenne on May 27.
Nope
Assistant U.S. Attorney Cameron Cook filed a motion last week urging the case judge to overturn the magistrate’s permissive bond arrangement, which resulted in Paez-Quinones’ release.
In that challenge, Cook divulges more allegations than the original complaint lists: that the ammunition was headed for Mexico when the trooper stopped Paez-Quinones for speeding.
“He admitted to being an illegal alien who was a citizen of Mexico,” wrote Cook of Paez-Quinones. “He asserted he worked with another person to obtain the ammunition and that the ammunition would eventually be going to Mexico.”
A report on Paez-Quinones says that the majority of his family lives in Mexico, though he lives with some of his immediate family in Colorado Springs, the prosecutor continued, adding that Paez-Quinones has lived and worked in Colorado for about three years.
The man also admitted to using cocaine the day of his arrest, wrote Cook.
Here the prosecutor walked carefully: 10th Circuit Court of Appeals precedent says a man isn’t automatically a flight risk and subject to a higher bond because he’s a deportable alien. But “that does not mean that immigration status is irrelevant,” wrote Cook.
Paez-Quinones’ immigration status can show that he has weak ties to the community in which he’s been ordered to stay, the prosecutor added.
The Flow Of Drugs And Guns
Cook’s motion points to concerns over drug and gun trafficking.
“It is well known that the flow of illegal guns and ammunition over the United States-Mexico border has created a deadly situation,” wrote Cook.
The cartels favor high caliber guns that they cannot legally obtain in Mexico, he wrote, adding, “And the high caliber ammunition the Defendant was in possession of and taking to Mexico was the kind of ammunition that would fit such guns.”
Cook called it a “fair inference” from the case circumstances that Paez-Quinones’ activity “is connected to this larger, deadly criminal enterprise.”
The dangerousness of the cartels and the illicit flow of weapons over the border gives Paez-Quinones “a strong incentive to flee and the resources to do so,” Cook wrote. The defendant also has children, parents, and brothers in Mexico, says the filing.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
