2 in Cleveland accused of trying to send guns to cartel
TAMPA, Florida (WKBN) – Two men from Cleveland are facing federal charges after investigations say they tried to send firearms to the cartel in Mexico.
Yarquimedes Rodriguez Hilario, 32, and Adison Lopez-Ramirez, 34, were indicted Tuesday on charges of money laundering and conspiring to traffic firearms. The charges are in connection with a larger scheme to provide firearms to the Mexican cartel.
Undercover ATF agents posing as cartel members met with Rodriguez Hilario under the guise of buying firearms to smuggle into Mexico. Some of the firearms included AR-15s, rocket-propelled grenade launchers, Mac-10-type machine guns, and AM-15 multi-caliber firearms and were delivered by Lopez-Ramirez, investigators said.
One of the coconspirators described that he sold AR-15s and AK-47s to El Salvadorans and had cocaine available for distribution. Rodriguez Hilario further offered fentanyl to one of the agents to make pills, investigators said.
Rodriguez Hilario's brother, Yuendry, was sentenced in March 2024 to 13 years and 4 months in prison in connection with the case, and in November 2024, another coconspirator, Saleh Yusuf Saleh, was sentenced to 5 years and 8 months in prison.
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