Uvalde, Texas Gun Store was Once Linked to Cartel Ammo Smuggling Bust in 2009

"Socalj" for Borderland Beat

Oasis Outback, the store in Uvalde, TX where the recent AR-15 rifle purchases by the school shooter were handled once sold over 10,000 rounds of ammo to a cartel arms smuggler. Currently, the gun section of the store is closed.

The Texas gun store where teen school shooter Salvador Ramos got an AR-15 style rifle before the school massacre was previously part of an ammunition smuggling case involving a Mexican drug cartel, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. In 2009, a businessman from Uvalde’s neighboring town of Eagle Pass was accused of trying to smuggle more than 10,000 rounds of ammunition into Mexico, ICE said.

Fred Farhat, 48, the owner of Farhat's Boots and Jeans was sentenced in 2011 to five years in federal prison for conspiring to smuggle more than 10,000 rounds of ammunition into Mexico. He was also sentenced to three years of supervised release following his prison sentence. Farhat pleaded guilty to the charge on Dec. 3. According to court records, on March 31, 2009, Farhat conspired with 34-year-old Noemi Carreon-Gonzalez of Eagle Pass and her husband, Ivan Ramos-Gonzalez, to purchase the ammunition from Oasis Outback L.L.C. in Uvalde, Texas, and ultimately smuggle the ammunition into Mexico.

During three separate transactions within a three-hour period, Farhat paid almost $6,000 cash for more than 10,000 rounds of .223 and 5.56 x 45 mm ammunition. Farhat transported the ammunition to his business and repackaged the ammunition. He and Ivan Ramos-Gonzalez then loaded the ammunition into Ramos-Gonzalez's vehicle. 

While at the Eagle Pass Port of Entry Bridge #1, he attempted to enter Piedras Negras, Mexico, when Ramos-Gonzalez and Carreon-Gonzalez hit a northbound vehicle making them flee on foot into Mexico. Mexican authorities responding to the scene of the accident recovered all of the ammunition and gun magazines and pistol clips from the defendants' vehicle.

In addition to Farhat's prison term, U.S. District Judge Alia Moses ordered Farhat to pay a $1,000 fine and $4,431.10 restitution to the victims of the vehicle accident on the Bridge. On Oct. 8, 2010, Carreon-Gonzalez was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to the same charge. Ramos-Gonzalez, who remains a fugitive, is charged with one count of conspiracy and a substantive count of smuggling ammunition from the United States.

Oasis Outback did not break the law with the sale, since there is nothing requiring the store to track or report the purchase of bullets in the state of Texas.

Texas law does not impose a minimum age for the purchase or possession of ammunition, nor does it require the seller of ammunition to make a record of the purchaser nor requires a license for the purchase or possession of ammunition. Federal licensees have to report the sale of two or more handguns if they happen within five days of each other, but sellers in Texas along with New Mexico, Arizona, and California also have to report the sale of certain rifles, including AR-platform rifles, if they are bought within five days of each other. Texas doesn’t have any limits on multiple purchases. The ATF said its database is often searched for patterns and red flags.

Texas prohibits the transfer of ammunition to some, but not all, of the people who are prohibited from purchasing firearms under state law. More specifically, Texas prohibits any person from intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly selling ammunition to any person who is intoxicated, and from knowingly selling ammunition to any person who has been convicted of a felony before the fifth anniversary of the later of 1) the person’s release from confinement following conviction of the felony; or 2) the person’s release from supervision under community supervision, parole, or mandatory supervision following conviction of the felony.

Sources ICE, New York Post, Giffords Law Center