Yakima Man Sentenced In Guns-For-Drugs Scheme

A Yakima man has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for smuggling assault rifles and drugs between Mexico and the Yakima Valley.

Pedro Bautista Garcia was sentenced Monday in U.S. District Court in Yakima after pleading guilty to operating a continuing criminal enterprise. He will be deported to Mexico when he finishes his prison term.

Garcia admitted in May that he supervised a scheme in which assault rifles purchased in Yakima were smuggled to Mexico and exchanged for drugs, mostly marijuana. The drugs were then smuggled back into the United States and brought to Yakima for sale.

The government said the smuggling operation was conducted for more than eight years but began to unravel when a gun dealer told federal authorities he was suspicious about those who bought the weapons.