August 12, 2024 - SAN DIEGO – Jarez Roberts, a felon and known gang member, was sentenced in federal court today to nine years in prison for committing various drug and gun-related crimes, including dealing methamphetamine while armed, being a felon in possession of firearms, and unlawfully transporting illegally-acquired firearms from Arizona to San Diego.

The case against Roberts was initiated in August 2022, after the San Diego Police Department recovered a loaded handgun from a dumpster in the College Grove Area. ATF investigators were then able to trace the firearm to a sale at Randall’s Sporting Goods in Glendale, Arizona.  The handgun had been purchased only two days prior to its recovery in San Diego. 

According to his plea agreement, in 2022 Roberts repeatedly coordinated the illegal purchase of handguns from an Arizona resident, later identified as Lillian Shingleton. Roberts then drove to Arizona on multiple occasions to acquire the handguns and transport them back to San Diego. Once in San Diego, Roberts used one of the firearms to protect himself while he dealt methamphetamine. 

On June 6, 2024, Shingleton pleaded guilty to being Roberts’ source of firearms in Arizona. Shingleton was arrested in Arizona and removed to San Diego to face federal charges for aiding and abetting Roberts.  According to her plea agreement, Shingleton knew that Roberts was unable to lawfully purchase firearms for himself and that she was paid a commission for each gun she acquired for him. As part of her plea, Shingleton also agreed that federal prosecutors could prove that Roberts was a felon and a gang member.

The Roberts-Shingleton connection is just one example of recent federal prosecutions involving firearms unlawfully obtained in Arizona and trafficked to San Diego.

Just last month, on July 29, 2024, Jacob Gall-Carrizosa pleaded guilty to transporting firearms without a federal license.  According to his plea agreement, Gall-Carrizosa traveled from San Diego to Arizona on multiple occasions between 2021 and 2022, to unlawfully buy eleven different firearms. To complete each purchase, Gall-Carrizosa used an Arizona Identification Card that falsely claimed he was an Arizona resident. After purchasing the firearms in Yuma, he brought them back to San Diego for illegal resale. One of the firearms illegally sold by Gall-Carrizosa was then recovered by law enforcement in Tijuana, Mexico. 

“Trafficking firearms across state lines creates a dangerous pipeline for illegal weapons,” said U.S. Attorney Tara McGrath. “By bringing cases like these to justice, we are keeping guns out of the wrong hands.”

“The primary goal of ATF’s firearms trafficking strategy is to prevent violent crime by disrupting and dismantling the firearms trafficking organizations and networks responsible for supplying violent offenders with crime guns,” said Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) Special Agent in Charge of Los Angeles Field Division Christopher Bombardiere. “ATF’s strategy is multi-faceted and includes the inspection of licensed gun dealers, targeting and arresting straw purchasers, and a greater intelligence-driven emphasis by identifying and targeting these individuals responsible for organizing and directing firearms trafficking operations. ATF remains committed to arresting those who illegally supply firearms to prohibited individuals, and by deterring the diversion of firearms from lawful commerce into the illegal market.”

The U.S. Attorney’s Office has recently fortified efforts to address gun violence though increased prosecutions. The office has so far charted a 40 percent increase in gun-related prosecutions in 2024 versus 2023, with five months still remaining in the year. Given the proliferation of ghost guns, the office has also emphasized prosecutions involving these homemade weapons that are very difficult to trace. Prosecutors have charged more than 30 ghost gun-related cases since the beginning of the year.

These cases are being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Andrew R. Haden and Allison B. Rogge.

DEFENDANTS                                            

Case Number 22cr2488-TWR

Jarez Roberts                                                  Age: 44                                   San Diego, CA

Case Number 24cr249-TWR          

Lillian Shingleton                                           Age: 38                                   Phoenix, Arizona

Case Number 24cr1252-AGS                                             

Jacob Gall-Carrizosa                                      Age: 39                                   San Diego, CA

SUMMARY OF CHARGES

Possession of Methamphetamine with Intent to Distribute – Title 21, U.S.C. Section 841

Maximum penalty: Forty years in prison and $5 million fine

Possession of a Firearm in the Furtherance of Drug Trafficking Activity – Title 18, U.S.C. Section 924(c)

Maximum penalty: Life in Prison, mandatory five years and $250,000 fine

Felon in Possession of Firearms – Title 18, U.S.C. Section 922(g)(1)

Maximum penalty: Ten years in prison and $250,000 fine

Unlicensed Transportation of Firearms – Title 18, U.S.C. Section 922(a)(3)

Maximum penalty: Five years in prison and $250,000 fine

INVESTIGATING AGENCY

Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms & Explosives

These cases are part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce gun violence and other violent crime, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone.  On May 26, 2021, the Department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.  For more information about Project Safe Neighborhoods, please visit Justice.gov/PSN.
Source: DOJ Release