United States Attorney David C. Joseph announced that Jerry A. Morgan, 30, of Woodworth, Louisiana, pleaded guilty Tuesday before U.S. District Judge Dee D. Drell for making a false statement on a federal firearms transaction record, known as an ATF Form 4473.
According to the guilty plea, Morgan completed an ATF Form 4473 when he purchased 10 AR-15 style rifles from a licensed firearms seller in Lecompte, Louisiana, on November 29, 2017. On the form, Morgan said he was purchasing the firearms for himself, but in truth he was purchasing them for another individual, co-defendant Dagoberto Yanez, 26, of New Mexico. Yanez gave Morgan approximately $4,300 to cover the cost of the firearms purchase.
Yanez pleaded guilty on August 19, 2019, for conspiring to make false statements to a licensed firearm dealer. According to Yanez’s guilty plea, Yanez intended the guns to go to a drug-trafficking organization in Mexico.
Morgan faces five years in prison, three years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine. Judge Drell set Morgan’s sentencing for December 17, 2019. Yanez is scheduled to be sentenced on November 22, 2019