Guatemalan Fugitive Living Illegally In The U.S. Under Fake Identity Pleads Guilty To International Firearms Trafficking (DOJ)

Tampa, Florida - United States Attorney Roger B. Handberg announces that Ricardo Fermin Sune-Giron (34, Guatemala) has pleaded guilty to conspiracy, firearms trafficking, dealing in firearms without a license, and possessing firearms as an illegal alien. He faces a maximum penalty of 15 years in federal prison for the conspiracy and each possession offense. He faces up to 5 years' imprisonment for dealing in firearms without a license. A sentencing date has not yet been scheduled.

According to the plea agreement, between 2023 and April 2024, Sune-Giron was a member of a transnational firearms trafficking operation. Sune-Giron recruited straw purchasers to illegally buy firearms-including Glocks, rifles and AK-47s-from federal firearms licensees across Florida. After purchasing the firearms, Sune-Giron and co-conspirators smuggled them overseas, including to the Dominican Republic and Haiti. Between 2023 and 2024, Sune-Giron and his co-conspirators trafficked thousands of firearms. Several were later recovered at crime scenes.

On April 18, 2024, agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and Homeland Security Investigations in Tampa and Orlando executed three coordinated search warrants at residences in the Orlando area. At Sune-Giron's residence, and as depicted below, agents recovered more than 50 firearms, ammunition, money counters, and approximately $16,000 in U.S. currency.

At the time of the search, Sune-Giron had been living in the United States illegally under an assumed name.

This case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and Homeland Security Investigations, with assistance from the United States Postal Inspection Service, and the Osceola County Sheriff's Office. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Diego F. Novaes and Noah P. Dorman.