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A Pharr man is under arrest after a federal investigation determined he purchased at least 240,000 rounds of ammunition, which would be smuggled into Mexico, according to a criminal complaint.
Homeland Security Investigations special agents arrested Julio Cesar Rodriguez-Azua on Sunday and charged him with illegally exporting ammunition into Mexico.
His arrest is part of an ongoing investigation.
“Specifically, based on records obtained by HSI, since September 2021, Rodriguez has received at least 240,000 rounds of 7.62x39mm, for which he paid $97,564.01,” the complaint stated.
The investigation included cooperating individuals who admitted to purchasing more than 100,000 rounds from Rodriguez over the past year, which is in addition to Rodriguez’s purchases.
“The cooperating individual(s) admitted Rodriguez would provide them with cash to make the purchases, and that the ammunition was to be illegally exported into Mexico,” the complaint stated. “Text messages and images in the cooperating individual(s) cellular telephone(s) corroborated their accounts of Rodriguez’s involvement.”
On Aug. 18, special agents executed a search warrant at Rodriguez’s Pharr residence and seized 15,000 rounds of ammunition that had been delivered to the man.
“A check of Rodriguez’s employment history revealed he has earned $127,384.00 since the fourth quarter of 2021, meaning approximately 77% of the money he earned through gainful employment between September 2021 and present would have been spent on ammunition purchases, not including the money he gave to others to purchase ammunition on his behalf,” the complaint stated.
Rodriguez was scheduled to make a first appearance on Monday in McAllen federal court in front of U.S. Magistrate Judge J. Scott Hacker.
