Pierson, Nuevo Laredo — An American man who was charged for gun running to Mexico has been sentenced in a U.S. court. The Oklahoma man, 46-year-old Andrew Scott Pierson, was sentenced to 12 years on Wednesday for providing weapons to Mexican cartels.
He was arrested in 2018 after being reported to authorities by an Arkansas resident who received a shipment of counterfeit weapons for cerakoting, a process in which a polymer-ceramic coating is added to a firearm or its parts to improve durability.
The counterfeit weapons were traced to an organization in Laredo, Texas, which was transporting firearm parts to Pierson in the Mexican state of Nuevo Laredo from where he assembled the parts into functioning weapons for the Cartel Del Noreste (CDN) and Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion (CJNG).
Pierson was arrested at the southern United States border on December 10, 2018. He admitted to ordering and receiving firearm parts from the United States and manufacturing automatic weapons in Mexico for the CDN and CJNG cartels.
On April 20, he was sentenced to 12 years in U.S. prison.
“Mr. Pierson’s participation in the exportation and manufacturing of illegal firearms to Mexican cartels is an inexcusable contribution to the violence carried out by these groups,” said United States Attorney Jonathan D. Ross.
“We are committed to prosecuting any case that will help prevent violent criminal organizations from obtaining firearms,” he added.
“Our Special Agents worked diligently on this investigation to intercept illegal weapon components being trafficked to criminal organizations in Mexico,” said Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) Special Agent in Charge Kurt Thielhorn.
“Our goal is to disrupt and dismantle the illegal activity and this sentencing sends a message to those who seek to aid violent criminals that it will not be tolerated,” he said.
