PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — A Port St. Lucie man faces a lengthy prison sentence after he was convicted of attempting to smuggle items used to assemble AR-15 firearms, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Authorities said in a written statement Friday that a federal jury on Nov. 20 convicted Gabriel Donato-Mendez, 48, of conspiracy to export United States defense articles and of attempted smuggling of defense articles.
According to the DOJ, over a six-month span in 2018 and 2019, Donato-Mendez bought more than 150 AR-15 "kits" which consisted of the pieces required to make AR-15 firearms after minor drilling and assembly.
On March 4, 2019, prosecutors said Donato-Mendez brought at least 84 AR-15 kits from a store in Daytona Beach, Florida, to a freight forwarder where the kits were destined to be exported to Costa Rica.
In 2019, AR-15s and their parts were on the United States Munitions List as "defense articles" and required a license from the Department of State's Directorate of Defense Trade Controls to be exported.
Officials said neither Donato-Mendez nor any of his known conspirators possessed a license to export AR-15 kits from the U.S.
Donato-Mendez is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 7 in Miami. He faces up to 10 years on the attempted smuggling count and five years on the conspiracy count.
