A federal judge sentenced a Guatemalan illegal alien to 78 months in federal prison for firearms trafficking after an investigation revealed a scheme to move firearms from Alabama to Maryland. Lester Ramos-Perez, a 29-year-old from Guatemala who is illegally present in the United States, was part of a broader conspiracy to move the weapons, according to court records.
U.S. District Court Judge Matthew J. Maddox sentenced Ramos-Perez to federal prison to be followed by one year of supervised release for his role in the firearms trafficking conspiracy and for possessing a firearm as a prohibited person. Ramos-Perez is prohibited from possessing firearms due to his immigration status.
Ramos-Perez pleaded guilty in July 2024 following his indictment for the conspiracy. The indictment followed suspicions by ATF and HSI special agents that the Guatemalan illegal alien was trafficking firearms from Alabama to Baltimore. In September 2024, Ramos Perez relocated to Waldorf, Maryland, according to investigators.
Ramos-Perez was indicted for multiple federal firearms offenses in March 2025 along with Vielman Cabrera Arevalo, 20, of Guatemala, Erick Lozano Colindrez, 23, of Honduras, Ludwin Fuentes Lopez, 22, of El Salvador, and Milton Leon-Morales from Guatemala after the conclusion of the federal firearms trafficking investigation.
During the investigation, agents learned Ramos-Perez and a co-conspirator worked together to sell firearms through a controlled, recorded transaction in Alabama and Maryland. Working with other suspects involved in the operation to illegally move firearms across state lines, Ramos-Perez arranged multiple gun sales transactions between Alabama and Maryland as he was being watched by investigators.
According to authorities, two of the firearms possessed by Ramos-Perez and later sold to undercover law enforcement agents were stolen. The investigation revealed two of the firearms Ramos-Perez sold to law enforcement are classified and considered machine guns. Ramos-Perez was also told by undercover investigators he was selling firearms to a person who possessed a criminal record and that they were purchasing the firearms on behalf of someone else. Despite this information relayed to Ramos-Perez, he conducted the transaction, which was monitored by HSI special agents.
The investigation was conducted by multiple federal law enforcement agencies working on behalf of the Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF), a whole-of-government partnership dedicated to eliminating criminal cartels, foreign gangs, transnational criminal organizations, and human smuggling and trafficking rings operating in the United States and abroad.
Randy Clark is a 32-year veteran of the United States Border Patrol. Before his retirement, he served as the Division Chief for Law Enforcement Operations, directing operations for nine Border Patrol Stations within the Del Rio, Texas, Sector. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @RandyClarkBBTX.