Two U.S. Army soldiers tried to sell stolen weapons and explosives to members of a Mexican drug cartel, and more servicemembers are involved in the conspiracy, Newsweek reports.
Former U.S. Army explosive ordnance disposal specialist Tyler J. Sumlin and Sergeant First Class Jason W. Jarvis were charged with eight felony counts in December, including transferring firearms to an out-of-state resident, conspiracy to smuggle goods from the US and transporting explosive materials without a license.
The pair started planning the sale on or before June 2018, according to the indictment.
Jarvis, assigned to Fort Bragg in North Carolina, rented a Chevrolet Tahoe in November and loaded the vehicle with explosives, firearms, and other military items. He then drove to Inverness, Florida, to meet Sumlin. There, the men combined their weapons, wiped them clean and put them in storage containers.
They drove to El Paso, Texas, together, where they thought they were meeting the sellers who were going to pay them $75,000.
Instead, they were arrested by undercover agents with Homeland Security Investigations.
Agents seized 32 rifles, three handguns, silencers, 5 pounds of C-4 explosive, and a hand grenade.
Sumlin in a Facebook post said he was arrested "for doing somethings I shouldn't had been doing," according to BuzzFeed.
"I really messed up my future along with the future of anyone who is remotely effected [sic] by my life," he said. "I'm not looking for anyone's pity. I did the crime now I'm gonna do the time."
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