Miami Officials said Wednesday that Gabriel Donato-Mendez, 48, of Port St. Lucie, Fla., had been found guilty by a federal jury of conspiracy to export U.S. defense articles and attempted defense article smuggling.
approximately the course of six months in 2018 and 2019, Donato-Mendez acquired approximately 150 AR-15 kits, according to court documents. These kits, which at the time were listed as defense products on the US Munitions List and required a license from the US Department of State to export, only needed minimal drilling and assembling to produce fully functional AR-15 guns.
In order to export the AR-15 kits to Costa Rica, Donato-Mendez moved a minimum of 84 of them from a Daytona, Florida, retailer to a freight forwarder on March 4, 2019. Prosecutors said that neither Donato-Mendez nor his friends had the required license to export the kits.
On February 7, 2025, Chief U.S. District Judge Cecilia M. Altonaga will sentence Donato-Mendez. He could spend up to five years in prison for conspiracy and up to ten years for the attempted smuggling conviction. After examining federal guidelines and other statutory considerations, the court will decide on his sentence.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) in Fort Pierce and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) offices in Miami and Fort Pierce looked into the matter. Support was also given by the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls of the U.S. Department of State and Costa Rican authorities.
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