(PatriotPostNews.com) — Last week, three men from California were indicted on five counts of firearms trafficking by a federal grand jury.
Wendell Moton and Donnie Hicks, both age 33, were charged alongside McCael Marshall, age 34, on June 6. Hicks and Marshall hail from Visalia and Moton is from Fresno. The three men are suspected of conspiring to commit firearms trafficking. They were taken into custody after they attempted to sell an undercover agent a machine gun online.
Federal investigators intervened with the set-up, apprehending the suspects while they were headed to make the sale. The indictment came as part of a larger, drawn-out investigation called Operation Gridlock. This effort is a collaboration between state, federal, and local authorities to undermine violent street gang criminal activity.
The joint effort includes federal agencies such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The state agencies involved are the California Department of Justice and the California Highway Patrol. Locally, the Fresno offices of sheriff, district attorney, and Multi-Agency Gang Enforcement Consortium are assisting in the investigation.
Additionally, the California case is also part of the Project Safe Neighborhoods effort, which strives to join law enforcement and local communities in a unified goal of decreasing gun violence and violent crimes. It was investigated under the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF).
Moton, Hicks, and Marshall are each facing charges of conspiring to traffic firearms as well as possessing guns as felons, according to a press release from the United States Attorney’s Office. Moton was also charged with possessing another gun as he evaded authorities in a separate incident.
The three men face a maximum sentence of a $250,000 fine and 15 years in jail, subject to change due to additional “statutory factors” and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines. The government further explained that the prosecution is being conducted through the updated criminal statutes of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act of 2022, which specifically targets “unlawful trafficking” as well as “straw-purchasing of firearms.”
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