PHOENIX — A former police officer from Mexico was sentenced this week to more than five years in federal prison for illegally possessing firearms while in the U.S. on a travel visa.
Martin Eulalio Molina Lopez, 33, of Hermosillo, Sonora, received a 63-month sentence from U.S. District Judge Sharad Desai on May 19 after pleading guilty to being an alien in possession of a firearm.
Molina Lopez, who previously served with the Hermosillo Municipal Police before retiring in 2021 due to a gunshot injury, was arrested in February 2024 after law enforcement saw him at a Phoenix gun show coordinating illegal straw purchases.
Authorities said he was found in possession of 18 firearms bought by U.S. citizens on his behalf. Investigators later discovered that he had arranged for another 20 guns to be purchased in similar fashion.
Because Molina Lopez was in the country on a travel visa, he was barred from buying or possessing firearms.
