A Mexican national illegally living in Zapata, Texas, will spend more than five years in prison for threatening people with a loaded revolver. The man was a convicted felon prior to the incident.
Late last week, 34-year-old Abelardo Javier Caballero-Zamora went before U.S. District Judge Diana Saldana in Laredo. Saldana sentenced Caballero-Zamora to 63 months in prison for the charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm. Since he is in the country illegally, Caballero-Zamora will ultimately face deportation. He had previously pleaded guilty to the charge on January 5.
The case began on April 3, 2021, when Zapata County Sheriff’s deputies responded to a call about a man with a gun threatening people at the Aqua Motel in Zapata. The caller identified the man as “Javier Zamora.”
When deputies arrived, they found the suspect sitting in the driver’s seat of a Ford pick-up. During a search of the truck, officers discovered a loaded .44 caliber revolver hidden between the driver’s seat and middle console with an ammunition box. Prosecutors claimed that earlier in the day, Caballero Zamora had threatened a store clerk with a weapon.
Federal prosecutors revealed that Caballero-Zamora is a habitual offender and was convicted in 2020 for re-entering the country illegally after a deportation. The court was presented with jail calls made by Caballero-Zamora to relatives, where he said he consumed drugs before his arrest and had no memory of the incident. Judge Saldana expressed during sentencing that Caballero-Zamora’s record is “an absolute nightmare” and told him that he “needs to grow up and stay in Mexico.”
Luisana Moreno is a contributing writer for Breitbart Texas.