MOUNT STERLING, Ky. (LEX 18) — Federal authorities arrested three men at a popular Kentucky festival after they allegedly purchased 18 firearms while in the country illegally.
Eduardo Rios-Cruz, Damian Hernandez-Cruz and Gregorio Rios-Cruz were charged with undocumented person possession of a firearm following their arrest Oct. 17 at the Court Day Festival in Mount Sterling, according to a federal criminal complaint filed in the Eastern District of Kentucky.
The three men were under surveillance by ATF special agents, Mount Sterling Police Department officers and Gateway Area Drug Task Force officers during the weekend festival, which features an open-air market where vendors and private citizens sell items including firearms, the complaint read.
Investigators observed the three men carrying firearms to a 2007 black Dodge pickup truck with Tennessee license plates and concealing the weapons in trash bags in the truck bed, according to the complaint.0
The complaint claimed that the men made multiple trips between vendors and their vehicle, repeating the same pattern throughout the day.
Officers conducted a traffic stop when they observed all three men leaving the festival without wearing seatbelts, the complaint detailed. When asked for identification, the men provided foreign identification cards and did not possess any United States-issued identification, according to the complaint.
The driver consented to a vehicle search after officers asked about firearms in the truck. Investigators reportedly found 18 firearms concealed in trash bags underneath a toolbox in the truck bed, consisting of three pistols and 15 rifles.
During individual interviews, all three men admitted they were in the United States illegally and had each allegedly purchased around five to six firearms at the festival.
Homeland Security Investigations confirmed the three subjects were not United States citizens and were illegally in the country. An ATF firearms expert determined all 18 weapons had traveled in interstate commerce, as none were manufactured in Kentucky, the complaint said.