Guns used in killing of ICE agent draw scrutiny

ICE Agent Jaime Zapata died in Mexico in 2011. ICE Agent Jaime Zapata died in Mexico in 2011. Photo: HO Photo: HO Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Guns used in killing of ICE agent draw scrutiny 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

WASHINGTON - The one thing the salesman at JJ's Pawn Shop in Beaumont remembered about Robert Riendfliesh from the day he picked up an order of 10 AK-47s was his military-style camouflage hat.

An Army veteran of the Iraq War, Riendfliesh was familiar with weapons like the Romanian-made 7.62 semi-automatic, capable of firing 30 rounds in under a minute. But Riendfliesh, 25, wasn't buying the guns for himself. Records show they were for "Manny," a drug dealer who had promised him $650 in cash.

Six months later, ballistics tests proved one of the weapons Riendfliesh bought was used Feb. 15, 2011, in a deadly attack on a Mexican highway that left ICE Agent Jaime Zapata dead and a fellow agent shot in the leg. Both special agents were assigned to ICE's attaché office in Mexico City.

On Feb. 16 in Baytown, agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives arrested Manuel Gomez Barba as part of an ongoing investigation of straw purchasers who were buying guns for Mexican drug cartels.

Now, congressional Republicans are questioning why it took so long to arrest Barba, especially when agents knew early on about his drug convictions, which disqualified him from buying guns, and were aware that he was obliterating serial numbers from guns - by itself a crime.

'Gun walking' denied

More directly, U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., chair of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, and Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, also are investigating the possibility that Houston agents stood by while Barba's surrogates bought guns for Mexico's ultra-violent Zetas drug gang - much like the watch-and-wait tactics Phoenix-based ATF agents used in the now discredited Fast and Furious operation.

Court records and ATF case files reviewed by the Houston Chronicle indicate the investigation's plodding pace may have kept agents from short-circuiting the guns purchase, but there is no evidence of so-called "gun walking," or trailing weapons to see where they would end up instead of interdicting them.

In the Phoenix Fast and Furious operation, ATF agents did just that. But they lost track of the weapons and 2,000 or more guns were transported to Mexican cartels as ATF watched.

Two of those weapons were later recovered in Arizona at the murder scene of U.S. Border Patrol agent Brian Terry in December 2010.

No undercover sting

AFT insists that wasn't the case in Baytown.

"We didn't know about Gomez until after the gun used in the Zapata murder was purchased," said the ATF's Franceska Perot in Houston. "There was no undercover operation where we witnessed guns being purchased and let them go. That didn't happen."

Fifty pages of ATF documents obtained by the Chronicle indicate that it took agents six months to arrest Barba and two months, from June to August 2010, to find and interview a key witness. That witness was the first to clearly point to Barba, saying he paid her $700 to buy nine weapons at a gun show in Pasadena.

Although they knew the 26-year-old female purchaser's identity by June 7, 2010, they didn't interview her until Aug. 23, 2010 - three days after Riendfliesh went to JJ'S Pawn Shop in Beaumont.

Witness hard to find

Arms traffickers often remove serial numbers before sending weapons to Mexico. But ATF technical experts can restore serial numbers, which is how officials traced weapons in the Zapata case.

ATF sources said there was nothing leisurely about their pursuit of Barba and his crew. They had troubles locating the 26-year-old woman who was their first lead to Barba.

ATF investigators identified six individuals who bought guns for Barba and interviews with the straw purchasers took place weeks or months after they bought guns for him. It also took time for agents to gather sufficient information for a search warrant and, ultimately, a grand jury indictment.

"We don't arrest someone because a straw purchaser says 'This is the guy,' '' said one ATF official. "We don't want the appearance of violating anybody's rights.''

Barba split his time between his girlfriend's Houston apartment and his parents' Baytown home. But his parents often were in Mexico, so Barba set up shop in their kitchen, grinding off weapons' serial numbers with a power tool before passing them along to a man he identified as "21,'' who paid him about $100,000 for the purchases.

That man is identified in a court document as Arturo Chavez Jr., who lives in Baytown and is a Zetas associate. He is now in federal custody.

Background checked

One member of Barba's crew told agents that in one instance while he was buying six rifles for Barba, another customer railed that such a large purchase would "end up in the wrong hands.''

The firearms dealer dismissed the complaint, saying the purchaser had passed the required background check and could buy all the weapons he wants.

Barba pleaded guilty and was sentenced to eight years in prison. Riendfliesh got four years probation for his part in the operation.

And while Barba's ring was found to have purchased and exported at least 44 weapons to Mexico, Barba told ATF agents the number was closer to 70.

dan@hearstdc.com