North Carolina Man and Sons Plead Guilty in Del Rio Firearms Trafficking

A North Carolina man and his two adult sons entered guilty pleas Feb. 25 in federal court in Del Rio for their roles in a scheme to traffic firearms destined for the Sinaloa Cartel in Mexico, federal prosecutors announced. The plea was brought by the U.S. Attorney’s Office and was announced by federal prosecutors on Feb. 25, 2026.

The defendants, identified by prosecutors only as a man from North Carolina and his two adult sons, appeared in Del Rio’s federal courthouse in Val Verde County to enter the pleas. Federal court in Del Rio is the venue where the U.S. Attorney’s Office filed the case and where the pleas were formally recorded on Feb. 25.

Prosecutors framed the matter as a firearms-trafficking scheme with the illegal diversion of weapons intended for the Sinaloa Cartel, a Mexico-based criminal organization. Federal prosecutors announced the guilty pleas as part of their broader enforcement actions addressing cross-border trafficking of weapons and related criminality affecting the border region.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office brought the charges that produced the guilty pleas in Del Rio’s federal court on Feb. 25, 2026, signaling federal involvement in the investigation and prosecution. The announcement by federal prosecutors followed the court filings and plea entries made in Val Verde County’s federal courthouse, consistent with federal jurisdiction over weapons trafficking and conspiracies involving transnational criminal organizations.

With the guilty pleas entered in Del Rio on Feb. 25, the case now moves to the sentencing phase under the supervision of the federal court in Val Verde County. The U.S. Attorney’s Office will remain the prosecuting authority as the court determines sentencing under federal guidelines for offenses tied to trafficking firearms destined for the Sinaloa Cartel in Mexico.

The Feb. 25 pleas mark a concrete enforcement outcome in Val Verde County’s federal court docket, with federal prosecutors securing admissions of guilt by the North Carolina man and his two adult sons in a case that implicated the Sinaloa Cartel and drew the involvement of the U.S. Attorney’s Office.