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Friday, March 1, 2019

U.S. Army explosive specialists attempt selling weapons to Mexican Cartels

Chivis Martinez For Borderland Beat republished from Newsweek  and Pacer Thank you BB follower
 


T
wo U.S. Army explosive ordnance disposal specialists have been indicted over allegations they tried to sell firearms and C-4 explosives bound for Mexico—an issue the U.S. Army attempted to keep quiet since their arrest last November, according to sources.

Former U.S. Army soldier Tyler J. Sumlin and Sergeant First Class Jason W. Jarvis were charged with eight felony counts after trying to sell multiple firearms, military grade equipment, and C-4 plastic explosives and detonators to undercover agents with Homeland Security Investigations, an investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security, in El, Paso, Texas, according to a criminal complaint reviewed by Newsweek.

For months, rumors of the arrest and the attempted sale of weapons and explosives to Mexican Cartels circulated the Defense Department’s explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) community, but with no official press releases from Army brass or news articles, the incident was chalked up to fabricated stories told between service members.

Former EOD technicians, who were granted anonymity in order to speak openly about the investigation, told Newsweek that U.S. Army commands at Fort Bragg wanted to keep the story out of the news cycle if they could. Newsweek on Thursday contacted both Fort Bragg and the Pentagon, in Washington, D.C., who said they are working on providing additional information.

 But late Wednesday night, the rumor was given substance when an EOD specialist found the charge sheet and indictments in the Public Access to Court Electronic Records database, known to lawyers and journalists as PACER.
 
Sumlin from Facebook
The charge sheet was dropped into a secret Facebook chat room for current and former members of EOD community. The room boasts a membership of more than 3,000 followers.

Sumlin indicated that there are six other people involved in the conspiracy to sell weapons and explosives. It is not known if the six individuals include Jarvis and Sumlin, according to the Facebook thread obtained by Newsweek from the secret chat room.

“As far as I know they are in the clear as long as they don’t say anything,” Sumlin wrote. “And even if there was a docket, I wouldn’t ever think of telling anyone the [case] number so it could be posted. I don’t care about mine. I f***ed up huge. No changing that. I’m gonna do some time and hopefully move on with my life. I figured this shit had been posted months ago.”

When another EOD specialist asked Sumlin why he was protecting the other individuals involved in the scheme, he said, “I’d like to hope they learned from what’s going to happen to me. By all means, if this would have happened to one of them, it would have changed my life that’s for sure.”

One EOD specialist in the chat room told Sumlin, “F*** you AND your service. You’re a piece of shit. You betrayed everyone you ever worked with as soon as you tried to sell weapons and explosives to a cartel.”

Another person asked Sumlin why he was talking about his case and about the involvement of other individuals in an open forum. Sumlin replied, “Ummmm haven’t you been paying attention, I’m an idiot duh.”

The case against Sumlin and Jarvis has been continued until April, according to the latest docket filing.

For the two soldiers, the plot allegedly began on or around June 6, 2018, when they planned to drive a cache of weapons to El Paso, Texas, in order to sell them to a buyer who would transport them over the U.S. southern border. Sources familiar with the situation told Newsweek they believed the intended goal was to supply the Mexican Cartel.

Jarvis, an active-duty EOD soldier with the 52nd Ordnance Group and assigned to Fort Bragg in North Carolina, is then said to have rented a Chevrolet Tahoe and driven from the Tar Heel State to Inverness, Florida, to meet with Sumlin, a former EOD team leader, according to his Linkedin profile.

The vehicle was packed with firearms, explosives and other military equipment swiped from the Army base, according to the indictment.

The two Army soldiers allegedly met at an Airbnb residence in Florida and combined their respective stolen weapons and explosives together, placing them in storage containers after wiping the firearms clean to remove their fingerprints in preparation for the trip to El Paso.

Once everything was packed in the Chevrolet Tahoe, the two men drove from Florida to Texas and on November 14, 2018, met with undercover agents at a local truck stop in far east El Paso, according to the criminal complaint. Sumlin and Jarvis followed undercover agents to a nearby warehouse to exchange the money for the goods, but upon their arrival, the two Army soldiers were taken into custody without incident. The men were accused of agreeing to sell the stolen firearms, explosives and hardware for $75,000.

In the Facebook chat room Wednesday night, Sumlin told one user that he asked for $250,000, but was talked down to $75,000, and that both he and Jarvis could have received additional charges from the U.S. government.

The criminal complaint says that agents seized 32 rifles of various makes and models and three handguns of different varieties. Silencers, 5 pounds of C-4 explosive and a hand grenade were also among the items seized.

A Defense Department source with knowledge of the serious incident report told Newsweek under the condition of anonymity that among the weapons included M4 carbines; M107 Barrett .50 caliber sniper rifles; a Browning .50 caliber machine gun; night vision goggles; and igniters and blasting caps for the C-4 explosives.

After their arrest, both individuals agreed to make statements without legal representation. The men, according to the indictment, said they both coordinated the sale of multiple firearms with a buyer in El Paso and admitted that they were aware the weapons and explosives were to be exported to Mexico.

Sumlin was slated to make $12,000 from the transaction, while Jarvis’s take on the deal was $2,000 for his participation in the transaction. Law enforcement database found that neither individual possessed a federal firearms license.
“The fact that former and active members of the U.S. military were prepared and attempted to smuggle out of the country this considerable array of equipment and firepower is distressing, in and of itself,” said Brad Moss, an attorney specializing in matters of national security and based in Washington, D.C.

“What is immensely concerning, however, is that they were apparently able to get this equipment out of a U.S. Government facility without anyone originally noticing,” Moss told Newsweek via email after reviewing the indictments. “This speaks to a far greater physical security breach than is made clear by the mere actions of the criminal defendants themselves. Somewhere someone did not properly do their job.”

Attorneys for Sumlin and Jarvis did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Newsweek.

I have added related court documents below

Complaint:


Indictment:


35 comments:

  1. Greed of 💰 money. Bet you it was the Sinaloa Cartel, they we're going to. Thanks to the undercovers, they got busted.

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  2. My favorite part of the article: “What is immensely concerning, however, is that they were apparently able to get this equipment out of a U.S. Government facility without anyone originally noticing.” Most US bases have far too many firearms to ever hope to effectively track and catalogue them, not to mention the fact that a bunch of GEDs are the ones who are keeping the records. Seems like these cases never end with the soldiers being caught taking weapons off base, but rather meeting some undercover agents in south Texas.

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    1. I know this is obvious, but what TOTAL DIPSHITS!! In order for anyone to even consider something like this, it should be a 1 time/life changing amount of $$- and on top of that, they didnt get the amount they wanted- i would think the cartel would have NO problem payimg whatever % these guys were asking for...and it wouldve been the start of a really serious relationship- being able to get almost anything you wanted etc- imagine if these guys wouldve hooked up with mencho...
      These guys lives are pretty much over- the military seems to be filled with "homer simpson" type charachters... there should be no way in hell shit like this just up and disappears-

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  3. 12.000 and 2,000 That don't add up to 75,000 . As dumb as they are I guess they didn't get that figured out They're fucked . NEVER be able to get a decent job . He sounds like he thinks this is way lighter than it is . Gonna get on with his life . He has some real prison time ahead of him . He would have been better of doing almost anything other than this . SERIOUS SHIT

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    1. He will do 30 yrs of .mil prison before he even starts his TX pen time..

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    2. 12;52 even in mil prison, the corrupt private associates control their part of the shit cake, with a lot of working members in the melitary, and a powerful OMERTA, just in case, to take care of RATS... imagine how much stolen military grade weaponry the extreme right nazi/fascists have stashed right on the US?
      The NRA has famously been corrupted by the russians and now is presided over by pardoned convict Oliver North and convict Eliott Abrams rides again to SouthAmerica to take over Venezuela... With big weapons stash in Culombia, that's some operation, for the Oil of course, the Venezuelans will never become rich after the country gets bombed back to the stone age and their oil becomes privatized again.

      Delete
  4. "Toto. We're in KANSAS! Fort Leavenworth, that is."

    Hang around...you are going to see the definition of "example"

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    Replies
    1. 9:07 you don't have a heart!

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    2. What does this mean?

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    3. 19:50 this means BB has some well read and cultured red shoes wearing fans, Dorothy, and some intriguing mods,
      yer welcome Chiva!

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  5. Tip of the iceberg!

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    Replies
    1. Here in Brownsville they very seldom check cars going South

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  6. "Sumlin was slated to make $12,000 from the transaction, while Jarvis’s take on the deal was $2,000 for his participation in the transaction."

    That seems like such an awfully low amount.

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  7. Strong words from the EOD specialist in the chat room, I wonder if he said the same thing to our goverment about the fast and furious case

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  8. yes the government doesn't like it when individuals sell weapons to cartels, those kind of activities are only reserved CIA

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  9. Not very surprising! why is this news?
    lol remember the DEA had operation fast And furious with Sinaloa Cartel, firearms in exchange for info on rivals ETC...

    VINCENTE ZAMBADA claimed he was offered immunity from DEA they kept delaying all of his court dates, too!🙄🙄🤐😑😐🤔😐😠

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    1. I believe VZ... he was just dumb to not have them put it on paper or record it or some shit. They obviously were gonna deny it

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    2. Oh ya!! But thats different!!! These guys were cutting into the cia's bottom line.. cant have that...

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    3. Not just cartel de Sinaloa, fast and furious supplied cjng and Zetas too..

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    4. you know it’s funny how people rave in the comments sections and occasionally there are articles about how extensive and massive the corruption is in Mexico… Ironically as this story indicates it’s almost just as bad here in the United States just in the last few years we’ve had two of our largest cities police departments Narcotics units exposed for massive corruption

      The panama unit in South Texas as well as several customs officers and border patrol agents arrested for corruption

      The latest example is the Houston Police Department narcotics unit, who apparently murdered and set up two innocent citizens And now thousands of cases are probably going to be dismissed

      Just goes to show LE That there iscsimply no way to interdict drugs in a manner that eliminates them. The war on drugs is unwinnable and a massive massive waste of taxpayer money and resources.

      When will the conservatives realize that the best way to control the drug problem Is not solved via punitive measures or incarceration
      Just remember it’s all about the cash the cold hard cash
      Houston pd story
      https://m.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/DA-reviewing-800-cases-of-second-officer-involved-13661953.php?ipid=mobbreaking

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    5. Yes it was for very little cash, but those of you who think this was the only time or the first time that they have done this is more than just a little bit naïve. They got away with it multiple times thought it was easy… Then they started dealing with the wrong people
      I wonder how many other Florida cities Have storage buildings packed to the gills with massive amounts of stolen military firearms and equipment

      Delete
  10. I recommend you boys traffic frijoles, tacos, avocados, live chicken and expletives, and stay out of prison while having a lot of fun...
    The ridiculous profit must mean there were some other big wigs that are getting scott free, these mules know to keep quiet, and there must be a lot more where these weapons came from, bet your arseholes, and the gang is still out there, safe.

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  11. Talk about betrayal... The Cartels murder 10's of thousands every year in Mexico...those same cartels target our Border Patrol, US LEOS, and civilians...and these two pieces of rat shit are selling military grade weapons to the cartels so they can kill more? They have no idea the significant time they are going to get on these 18 USC 922 charges...they won't be getting on with their lives except in a Super Max for life.

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    1. With the good oportunities and clean air of the US, I find it puzzling why these white guys decide to ruin their lives for such little. As soon as I read explosives I thought ¨Yep, Supermax¨ I hope you are right.

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    2. 8:21 cartels do not target US government employees, Mexican police does, specially polesia judicial Federales, they are the worst Mexico has to offer, but their bosses are well connected on the US, where Genarco Garcia Luna lives the life of a billionaire and enjoys his golden parachute retirement.

      Delete
  12. It's puzzling why the cartels aren't using bombs, especially car bombs. Primary, secondary, tertiary. Good bombers are diabolical experts in human behavior and psychology, and will truly mess with your head.

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    Replies
    1. First cartel to use a car bomb against Federales was ¨La Linea¨ and they attracted a lot of attention.

      I don´t think its a good idea for cartels to mess with explosives, US would step in.

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  13. Wow! From what it sounds like, these guys weren't exactly criminal masterminds! More like larry and moe!
    Mn

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  14. Oklahoma Bomber Timothy Mc Veigh was executed real quick before he gave up his whole crew, and his whole crew is still out there.

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  15. It’s not silencers. They’re suppressors. And the far east in El Paso is either the Socorro area or near Horizon City. Dumpy looking truck stops in that area. - Sol Prendido

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  16. I am so unhappy with this situation! It's my opinion that the USA is the problem. Between Americans needing all
    their illegal drugs and the greed of supplying guns to cartels...Fast and Furious...and this guy we are 100 percent guilty. And,the President we have now is an idiot...I don't think we have a pray of controlling the drug problem here. It makes me sad. Thanks for the post.Peace.

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    Replies
    1. 414 it's the comsuption of drugs from people all over the world, it is not a US problem only. Furthermore, thousands are kind killed overdosing.

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  17. Cannot fault any buyer for trying but these two Americans are the definition of TREASON.

    Canadian girl

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  18. Although this is not new it's very interesting.

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  19. As a former EOD Technician myself, albeit US Air Force, I am very disturbed by this. EOD is a very tight-knit and proud community of military professionals, and something like this is normally unthinkable. I don't know what else to say!

    ReplyDelete

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