MCALLEN, Texas — A twice deported illegal alien with a long criminal history has been sentenced to prison for selling to undercover agents in Texas. On Monday morning, Mario Alberto Garcia Balderas went before Chief U.S. District Judge Ricardo Hinojosa who sentenced him to 10 years in prison which is the maximum sentence possible for the charges. Garcia Balderas received another sentence in a separate charge for the charge of illegal re-entry after deportation for which he received 96 months in prison.
Earlier this year, Garcia Balderas was convicted of the charges of being an illegal alien in possession of a weapon and being a convicted felon in possession of a weapon, information provided to Breitbart Texas by the U.S. Attorney’s office revealed.
Homeland Security Investigations and the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives began their investigation on September 2009 when they received information that Garcia was selling makeshift grenades. Agents set up an undercover sting and were able to purchase nine grenades from Garcia on three separate days in September in exchange for $24,960, the information provided by the U.S. Attorney’s office revealed.
In addition to his two prior deportations, Garcia had been convicted in 2000 on state charges for trafficking marijuana.
During his sentencing, Judge Hinojosa said that he had sentenced Garcia two times before in federal cases and yet he continued to illegally enter the country and commit very serious crimes.
Once Garcia concludes his sentence with the U.S. Bureau of Prisons he is expected to face deportation.
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award winning journalist with Breitbart Texas you can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook.
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