Seven individuals were sentenced in a Central Florida gun trafficking scheme. The Central Florida gun trafficking scheme involved hundreds of firearms, machineguns, machinegun conversion devices, and high-capacity magazines needed for fully automatic weapons. The suspects arrested were from Kissimmee, Poinciana, St. Cloud, and Orlando.
This Central Florida case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, with assistance from the Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation, the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, the Orlando Police Department, the Winter Garden Police Department, the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office, the Apopka Police Department, the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office, and the Florida Highway Patrol.
The convictions and sentences are:
- 32-year-old Victor Manuel LaFontaine Ruiz, of Poinciana: Gun trafficking conspiracy, and Brandishing a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence (17 years, 4 months)
- 33-year-old Jose Emanuel Maldonado Rodriguez, of Kissimmee: Gun trafficking conspiracy, and Possession of machinegun (5 years, 6 months)
- 37-year-old Freddie Geovani Cruz Batiz, of Kissimmee: Gun trafficking conspiracy, and Possession of machinegun (7 years, 3 months)
- 31-year-old Jomar Manuel Lopez Montanez, of Kissimmee: Gun trafficking conspiracy, and Felon in possession of a firearm (7 years, 8 months)
- 30-year-old Derrick Yamil Rivera Robles, of Kissimmee: Gun trafficking conspiracy, Unlicensed gun dealing, aiding and abetting, and Possession of machinegun (3 years, 10 months)
- 24-year-old Leonardo David Joseph Guerra, of Orlando: Gun trafficking conspiracy, and Possession of a firearm by an illegal alien (4 years)
- 28-year-old Jincheng Shi, of St. Cloud: Unlicensed gun dealing, aiding and abetting, and Possession of a firearm as an alien admitted under a non-immigrant visa (7 years)
According to court documents, from at least as early as September 2023 onward, Lafontaine and Maldonado operated a gun trafficking ring involving hundreds of firearms, machineguns, machinegun conversion devices, and high-capacity magazines needed for fully automatic weapons. This operation did not involve any federally licensed firearms dealers. Instead, Lafontaine and Maldonado obtained firearms parts, including from Shi, a Chinese national who was admitted to the United States under a non-immigrant visa in 2022, which places him in a prohibited class of persons not legally allowed to possess firearms. Lafontaine and Maldonado assembled, manufactured, and modified semi-automatic and automatic firearms using a “ghost gunner” machine and specialized “endmill” drilling devices at a workspace on Maldonado’s property in Kissimmee…