ATF Investigation Takes Down Florida-based International Gun Trafficking Enterprise
TAMPA, Fla. — A major ATF Orlando Field Office-led investigation into a complex international gun trafficking enterprise that wreaked havoc in at least two foreign countries concluded in an Ocala U.S. District Court today.
Senior U.S. District Judge John C. Antoon II sentenced Viviana Rodriguez, 41, of Kissimmee, to two years and six months in federal prison for dealing in firearms without a license, making a materially false statement to a federally licensed firearms dealer (FFL) and causing an FFL to maintain false information in its official records. Rodriguez’s co-defendant, boyfriend Kingsley Wilson (35, Kissimmee), was sentenced to 3 years and 10 months in federal prison for dealing in firearms without a license, making a materially false statement to an FFL, and causing an FFL to maintain false information in its official records.
Wilson and Rodriguez entered guilty pleas in late 2023.
According to evidence presented in court, between January 2022 and July 2023, the boyfriend-girlfriend duo purchased 140 firearms from multiple gun dealers in the Middle District of Florida.
While purchasing the firearms, Wilson and Rodriguez falsely certified on Firearm Transaction Records – also knowns as ATF Form 4473 – that each was the “actual transferee/buyer” of the firearms. In actuality, Wilson and Rodriguez were purchasing these firearms for others in exchange for monetary payments. Wilson’s cellphone revealed numerous conversations between Wilson and others, including Rodriguez, about the illegal purchases and transfer of these firearms.
As of March 21, law enforcement authorities have successfully recovered 24 of the firearms purchased by Wilson and Rodriguez at crime scenes involving drug trafficking, illegal firearm possession by felons, shootings and homicides: 12 were found in The Bahamas and another 12 in Canada.
This firearms trafficking prosecution was made possible, in part, by firearms tracing conducted in cooperation with the Royal Bahamas Police Force, the Ontario Provincial Police and ATF’s International Affairs Division.
“Gun traffickers are the purveyors of violent crime,” said ATF Tampa Field Division Special Agent in Charge Kirk D. Howard. “Our investigators immediately stopped the illegal flow of crime guns to neighboring countries and then worked with partners to bring two conniving suspects to justice.”
This case was investigated by ATF, Homeland Security Investigations, the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office, the Lake County Sheriff’s Office and the Royal Bahamas Police Department. It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Sarah Janette Swartzberg.
This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the Department of Justice launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities and measuring the results.
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