Flower Mound man guilty of illegally making rifles exported to Mexico

A jury handed down a guilty verdict in the case of a 63-year-old Flower Mound man who was illegally making hundreds of AR-15 and AK rifles and selling them for export to Mexico.

Gary Busby was convicted Thursday of one count of conspiracy to manufacture firearms without a license and four counts of structuring transactions to evade reporting requirements, according to a news release from the U.S. attorney’s office.

Federal prosecutors presented evidence during a four-day trial that law enforcement officials found about 50 of the thousands of weapons Busby manufactured as they were being smuggled into or recovered in Mexico, court documents stated.

Busby lied on government forms to make it seem that he was purchasing weapons parts, knowing that he would sell or trade those parts to third parties.

Evidence was also presented that between December 2010 to September 2012, Busby purchased hundreds of postal money orders at dozens of post offices in the Dallas-Fort Worth area in an effort to hide the illegal proceeds from his weapons sales.

Busby was careful to only purchase two $1,000 money orders at a time at one post office, using cash, so as not to trigger the federal reporting requirement of money order purchases that are $3,000 or more, the release said.

Busby met an individual at a gun show and sold him firearms knowing he did not have federal firearms licenses in December 2010, the release said.

At some time during that period, Busby became aware that the firearms he was making and the firearms he agreed to make had and would be sent to Mexico.

In January 2011, officers with the Hidalgo Police Department recovered 15 firearms that were hidden in a gas tank of a vehicle attempting to enter Mexico. Seven of those firearms were traced directly to the conspirators in this case, including Busby.

In February 2011, officers with the Fort Worth Police Department saw Busby at a gun show negotiating gun purchases for this individual. Busby would contact potential sellers and negotiate the price. A firearm purchased at this gun show was later recovered in Mexico.

In July 2011, federal agents cataloged all the firearms and ammunition they found during a search of Busby’s residence. That same day, Busby signed a letter saying that he was to stop selling firearms without a license and that several of the firearms he had sold were recovered and had been involved in crimes.

But Busby didn’t stop selling rifles, prosecutors said. Authorities later found one of the cataloged firearms in Mexico.

Each of the five counts Busby was convicted of carries a maximum penalty of five years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine.

This story was originally published March 16, 2017 at 6:03 PM with the headline "Flower Mound man guilty of illegally making rifles exported to Mexico."