Offenders using high capacity magazines and AR-15 pistols
By Colleen Heild
Albuquerque Journal
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — When New Mexico law enforcement agents carrying Glock pistols and AR-15 rifles enter homes in predawn raids these days, they sometimes find themselves outgunned by the crooks.
That’s not the only troubling trend.
Violent offenders are getting younger, often recruited by older career criminals who know that under the state or federal laws they face stiffer sentences if caught. And suspects aren’t only wearing bulletproof vests, they are selling them on the streets.
Such is the state of violent crime in the Albuquerque metro area and elsewhere in New Mexico as an FBI-led violent crime task force begins its second year on the streets.
Over the past 10 months, nearly 100 people have been arrested and 76 firearms confiscated by task force agents who work 16 to 18 hours a day and carry active caseloads of up to 80 each.
As proof of its success — and the continuing criminal hold on New Mexico — the special force of FBI agents, New Mexico State Police, Albuquerque Police Department detectives and Bernalillo County Sheriff’s deputies is set to nearly double in size, said FBI violent crimes division supervisor Percy Giles.
Eight new task force officers, including one from the state probation/parole office, will join the 11 other members – who include four APD detectives, one from the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Department and a total of three positions from State Police.
“It’s basically a force multiplier for us, and it’s going to give us additional resources to do the things we need to do at a faster rate,” Giles said. The new boost in federal funding for the effort “is a testament to all the partnerships and the work we’ve been seeing. ...”
Most of those arrested are prosecuted federally, where conviction rates are “extremely high,” Giles said.
FBI Special Agent Bryan Acee, coordinator of the task force, told the Journal his team puts a “priority” on targeting “that dedicated career offender” who has violent crime and/or drug trafficking convictions.
Giles added that “in working with our state and local partners, we’re also looking for the individuals who are creating the violent acts on the streets.” Even if they aren’t considered career criminals or don’t have long rap sheets of convictions, they might be targeted “based on intelligence that we’re seeing on the ground.”
But the work is getting more dangerous.
Over the past year, Acee said, task force members have seen an increase in high capacity magazines for pistols and rifles and the use of AR-15 pistols, which can be concealed.
“We’re seeing a lot of the AR-15 pistols, which is essentially an AR-15 rifle (with the butt stock removed), the same rifle the FBI is carrying when they’re entering a house.”
He said the team is also coming across an increase in Glock pistols, “there again, by the coincidence, the same gun we carry.”
But there’s a difference in the firepower.
Agents carry Glocks with magazines that hold 15 rounds.
Offenders are now using high capacity 30- and 50-round magazines that can be inserted into Glock pistols. And Acee said the team is starting to see Glock full-automatic selector switches.
“So you can have a Glock pistol, with a 50-round magazine, then you can insert a device at the back of the Glock which converts it into a machine gun, or fully automatic.
“Simply stated, a regular squad of FBI agents going into a home, we’re carrying that Glock pistol. We’re carrying the AR-15. They have more firepower than we have going into the house.”
Giles said the task force is seeing more targets with bulletproof vests.
“If we are in a firefight, that basically makes things equal, because we have bulletproof vests, too. That emboldens them to potentially do harm to law enforcement. ...”
In one recent case, Matthew “Goat” Martinez, a member of the Syndicato de Nuevo Mexico prison gang, was out on the streets selling bulletproof vests. Undercover task force agents bought four of the vests from him before arresting him. Martinez was later convicted of possession of heroin with intent to distribute.
Last month, the task force arrested Manuel Bolivar after a predawn raid in Southwest Albuquerque. They found 3 pounds of methamphetamine, almost $16,000 in cash, five pistols and two rifles, 96 blue fentanyl tablets, 155 packaged strips of suboxone and a bulletproof vest, along with thousands of rounds of ammunition. And they recovered a selector switch to allow a Glock 9mm pistol to be fired as a fully automatic firearm. Bolivar is 21 years old.
“One of the trends that we’ve been seeing is, and that’s also with the gangs as well as the violent actors, is they’re becoming younger and younger,” Giles said. “The older guys tend to have more of a criminal history, more convictions, and the word is getting out on the techniques that we’re using ... the more convictions you have, the higher your criminal points are on the federal side, which means more prison time if convicted.
”So they’re sending juveniles to do their dirty work for them.”
One task force member, the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Department, had this to say about the effort:
“Sheriff Manuel Gonzales believes that our partnership with Federal agencies is critical to assist in keeping our community, children, families and businesses safe. The additional staffing complements our previous crime fighting efforts and will also assist in stronger prosecution of the violent offenders.”
Giles and Acee said the involvement of state and local agencies is invaluable.
Task force members with state or local jurisdiction can often arrest an offender on state charges, while federal agents look at federal crimes that might be filed.
Or, Acee said, in the case of an offender who is a felon suspected of committing a homicide with a firearm, “that APD detective on our task force can charge the offender with being a felon in possession of the firearms (in the federal courts) and we can run with that case while the state continues to investigate the homicide.”
The result often is getting the offender off the streets.
Giles said roughly 60% of the cases investigated by the task force are “proactive.” Offenders targeted typically have a criminal history and are suspected in other violent crimes.
For example, Casiano Coronel at age 21 was charged as a habitual offender in state District Court in 2018. Last April, he pleaded no contest to aggravated fleeing from a law enforcement officer, aggravated DWI, child abuse and receiving or transferring a stolen motor vehicle.
State District Judge Daniel Ramczyk of Albuquerque released Coronel on his personal recognizance and referred him to comply with “Youth Adult Court,” pending further resolution.
But months later, Coronel became a suspect in a shooting under investigation and the violent crime task force opened a “proactive case” on him.
In late June, the task force requested its probation and parole partners put Coronel on GPS monitoring, and he was placed under task force surveillance.
Within days, Coronel cut off his ankle monitor and tried to carjack an undercover APD detective, who killed Coronel in a shootout. According to news reports, the detective was conducting surveillance.
Giles said the case underscores why the task force is also requesting its own federal prosecutor.
“We need to execute things in a swift manner, because these are dangerous individuals we are targeting. They’re dangerous for the community. They’re dangerous for law enforcement, so a swift apprehension is most preferred.”
