I found this article on the front page of the Naples Daily News.
Naples woman convicted of shipping illegal weapons
5:54 p.m., Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Photo courtesy/U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
A Naples woman was convicted Friday of hiding illegal guns inside furniture and household appliances, shipping them to Honduras and reselling them for a profit, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials.
A Naples woman was convicted Friday of hiding illegal guns inside furniture and household appliances, shipping them to Honduras and reselling them for a profit.
The conviction of Jenny Mejia de Hernandez came after an investigation by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, according to a press release.
A Fort Lauderdale jury found Mejia de Hernandez guilty on a five count indictment charging her with conspiracy, delivering firearms to a common carrier for export and exporting firearms to Honduras. Two of Mejia de Hernandez’s brothers, Mario Mejia and Dixon Mejia, were also named in the indictment and are fugitives, reports said.
From December 2006 through March 2008, Mejia de Hernandez and her two brothers traveled to Miami and purchased more than 100 high-powered firearms from Miami-area gun dealers, which can be sold in Honduras for several times their original purchase price, ICE reported.
The majority of the family’s purchases were of a pistol version of the AR-15 assault rifle and the sidearm accompaniment to the FN PS90, a weapon designed to fire a round capable of piercing Soviet body armor, reports said.
After receiving tips from licensed firearms dealer, ATF and ICE special agents searched a sofa delivered by Mario Mejia to a Miami area cargo shipper. Agents found seven firearms hidden inside the sofa, authorities said.
After discovering the weapons inside the sofa, agents alerted Honduran law enforcement officers, who seized an additional three firearms from a television shipped through the same company.
