Daily News Releases - ATF/DOJ
DOJ - News Releases
Thursday, January 22, 2026
DOJ - Middle District of Florida
Armed Fentanyl Dealer Sentenced to 14 Years in Federal Prison
Jacksonville, Florida – Thomas Edgar Hall (36, Jacksonville) has been sentenced by U.S. District Judge Harvey E. Schlesinger to 14 years in federal prison for multiple counts of distribution of fentanyl and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. Hall pleaded guilty on July 8, 2025. U.S. Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe made the announcement.
According to court documents, an undercover detective purchased fentanyl and/or crack cocaine from Hall six times in less than four months. Hall had a firearm either on his lap or within reach for most of the drug transactions. During the last transaction, Hall sold the undercover detective a pistol as well as fentanyl. Approximately one week later, law enforcement executed a search warrant at the residence where Hall was selling drugs from. In that residence, law enforcement located a safe which contained a shotgun, a rifle, three pistols—one with an extended magazine—and assorted ammunition. The firearms in the safe matched those Hall had possessed during the drug transactions. Law enforcement also located additional sums of fentanyl and items commonly used for selling drugs.
This case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Kelli Swaney.
Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-mdfl/pr/armed-fentanyl-dealer-sentenced-14-years-federal-prison
DOJ - Eastern District of Texas
Illegal alien sentenced for gun trafficking in Eastern District of Texas
SHERMAN, Texas –An illegal alien has been sentenced to federal prison for firearms trafficking violations in the Eastern District of Texas, announced U.S. Attorney Jay R. Combs.
Abigael Colin Saldana, 28, pleaded guilty to trafficking firearms and was sentenced to 60 months in federal prison by U.S. District Judge Amos L. Mazzant, III on January 21, 2026.
According to information presented in court, beginning in 2021, Saldana, who is a Mexican national illegally living in Royse City, was part of a firearms trafficking conspiracy responsible for trafficking firearms from Texas to Mexico.
This case is part of Operation Take Back America a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime.
This case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives and the Texas Department of Public Safety and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew T. Johnson.
Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-edtx/pr/illegal-alien-sentenced-gun-trafficking-eastern-district-texas
DOJ - Western District of North Carolina
Twice-Removed Illegal Alien Sentenced To 18 Months In Prison For Illegal Reentry And Unlawful Firearm Possession
ASHEVILLE, N.C. – Aviel Gonzalez-Ruiz, 41, of Mexico, was sentenced today to 18 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release after pleading guilty to illegal reentry by an alien and unlawful possession of a firearm by an alien, announced Russ Ferguson, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina.
Alicia Jones, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), Charlotte Field Division, Kyle D. Burns, Acting Special Agent in Charge of HSI in North Carolina and South Carolina, and Chief Justin J. Jacobs of the Murphy Police Department, join U.S. Attorney Ferguson in making the announcement.
According to court records and the sentencing hearing, on April 20, 2025, Gonzalez-Ruiz illegally possessed a firearm which he fired twice into the air at a motel parking lot in Murphy. Law enforcement responding to the incident recovered the firearm from Gonzalez-Ruiz’s motel room. Video surveillance from the motel’s video system shows Gonzalez-Ruiz firing the gun out the window of his car, while other people, including at least two children, were nearby. Over the course of the investigation, law enforcement determined that Gonzalez-Ruiz had been deported from the United States to Mexico on two occasions: once on or about March 2, 2010, at or near Nogales, Arizona, and again on or about September 24, 2018, at or near Brownsville, Texas.
In announcing the sentence, Chief U.S. District Judge Martin Reidinger noted Gonzalez-Ruiz’s many previous reentries after deportation, and the recklessness of firing a gun into the air near children.
Gonzalez-Ruiz remains in federal custody and will be ordered to report to the Federal Bureau of Prisons upon designation of a federal facility.
In making the announcement U.S. Attorney Ferguson commended the ATF, HSI, and the Murphy Police Department.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Don Gast of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Asheville prosecuted the case.
This case is part of Operation Take Back America a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime.