Posted on 02/18/2004 4:28:47 PM PST by SwinneySwitch
BROWNSVILE, Feb. 18, 2004 — A Porter High School teacher was sentenced Tuesday to 27 months in federal prison without parole on one count of dealing firearms without a license.
Sotero Sotelo, 31, an eight-year employee of the Brownsville Independent School District, pleaded guilty to illegally selling firearms in November from his La Cueva drive-through beer store in Southmost.
Sotelo, who taught history, remains free on a $100,000 bond while he awaits a jail date. He will receive a notice from the United States Bureau of Prisons informing him of his surrender date, court records show.
The conviction and sentencing was unknown to BISD, which still has Sotelo on the payroll.
“We haven’t received any sort of notification,” said Dr. Daniel Garcia, the superintendent of personnel.
“It’s our business how we get our information. We are taking care of the issue,” Garcia said when asked in a phone interview if the district was actively seeking the status of Sotelo’s case from federal court.
Sotelo was arrested in October following a four-month investigation into his business.
A multi-agency task force involving the Brownsville Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives found that Sotelo was connected to gun smuggling between the United States and Mexico. The investigation indicated that he would sell weapons at an inflated price to individuals who legally could not purchase firearms.
“It was an excellent investigation by ATF,” said prosecuting Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Hagen.
“There was a lot of hard work that went into (Sotelo’s) case.”
An undercover agent bought 12 firearms from Sotelo, ending with the purchase of two semi-automatic pistols and an assault rifle for $5,350, stated a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
In addition to prison time, presiding Judge Andrew Hanen sentenced Sotelo to three years supervised release and a $3,000 fine.
Gun running, beer selling, history teacher still on the BISD payroll!
If this is true, then the guy sounds like a bad actor and you gotta admire the cops who shut him down.
Sorry to say that the BATF has a horrible reputation for routinely entrapping basically decent people who are pretty much innocent of anything more than a paperwork slipup. I hope the BATF has cut out that nonsense -- it may be an easy way to get convictions but ruined a lot of lives for no good reason.
1911 would go well with a 40 oz Colt 45 malt liquor
HK USP with a sixpack of St. Pauli Girl
Lorcin with a can of Lucky Lager
Walther PPK with a sixer of Guiness
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