Del Rio jury convicts man of trafficking 24 rifles to cartel
A Del Rio jury found Bobby Brandon Galván guilty of moving 24 rifles toward a cartel pipeline that reached Toluca, Mexico, and one gun later surfaced in a shootout.
A Del Rio federal jury has convicted Bobby Brandon Galván, a 30-year-old from Dale known as “Puravidarecia,” of helping move 24 AK-47-style rifles into a cartel weapons pipeline that investigators say reached Toluca, Mexico. Prosecutors said the guns were bought through a straw-purchase scheme between Sept. 16, 2023, and April 14, 2024, then passed to co-conspirators for transport south.
Authorities said Galván tried to obliterate serial numbers before the firearms left the country, a step that underscored how gun traffickers try to cut off traceability once weapons enter cartel hands. One of the rifles was later recovered after being used in a shootout between cartel members and Mexican law enforcement, a reminder that weapons bought in Texas can quickly become part of violence far beyond Val Verde County.
Galván was convicted May 4, 2026, in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas before Chief U.S. District Judge Alia Moses. He was arrested July 29, 2025, and indicted Aug. 20, 2025, on one count of conspiracy to traffic firearms and one count of straw purchase of firearms. He faces up to 40 years in prison on each count, for a possible total of 80 years.
The case is part of a broader federal crackdown on La Nueva Familia Michoacana, or LNFM, which prosecutors say is tied to the border-security threat Del Rio residents see up close every day: firearms bought in the United States, moved through smuggling routes, and used to fuel cartel violence in Mexico. Galván is one of 26 defendants indicted in the wider case, and 18 co-conspirators have already pleaded guilty and are awaiting sentencing.
The stakes extend beyond one defendant. The U.S. Department of State designated LNFM a Foreign Terrorist Organization and a Specially Designated Global Terrorist entity on Feb. 20, 2025, and the Treasury later sanctioned LNFM leaders on April 15, 2025. The National Counterterrorism Center says the group attacks Mexican government officials and rival cartels, sometimes using drones and explosives, and extorts avocado and lime farmers in Michoacán. For Del Rio, the conviction shows how the border corridor remains a target in a larger regional enforcement push aimed at cutting off cartel supply chains before more weapons move south.
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