PHOENIX, Ariz. – Cynthia Solano, 40, of Phoenix, has been sentenced to 87 months in federal prison followed by 36 months of supervised release for her role in a transnational firearm smuggling operation. United States District Judge G. Murray Snow issued the sentence this week after Solano pleaded guilty to possession of a machinegun and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
Between February 2022 and January 2023, Solano worked with others to launder proceeds from firearm sales that were trafficked from the United States into Canada. She then used those funds to purchase additional weapons.
In late December 2022, Solano gathered 87 firearms in Phoenix with the intent to deliver them to co-conspirators in Michigan. On January 3, 2023, Illinois State Police stopped her vehicle near Springfield and discovered the weapons, each individually wrapped in Christmas paper. Among the firearms, one was modified with a machinegun conversion device, commonly referred to as a “Switch,” which enables a semi-automatic weapon to fire automatically.
After her arraignment in Arizona, Solano was released under pretrial supervision but later removed her electronic monitoring device and fled to Mexico. The United States Marshals Service tracked her down, and she was captured by law enforcement in Mexico before being extradited back to the U.S.
The case was prosecuted under the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces Strike Force Initiative, a multi-agency effort targeting high-level drug traffickers, money launderers, and transnational criminal organizations. The investigation included personnel from multiple federal and local agencies, including Customs and Border Protection, Homeland Security Investigations, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the FBI, the ATF, and local law enforcement in Arizona.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona handled the prosecution.