A cadet at a Texas border-area police academy received a sentence of more than four years in prison for supplying a cartel in Mexico with .50 caliber ammunition.

Pedro Cruz Almeida, age 22, appeared before U.S. District Judge Micaela Alvarez last week and received a sentence of 50 months in prison for his role in helping smuggle thousands of rounds of .50 caliber ammunition into Mexico. Almeida had been free on bond after pleading guilty to the charges in late April.

The case began in February when a Hidalgo County Deputy Constable pulled Almeida over during a traffic stop, court documents obtained by Breitbart Texas revealed. When the deputy searched Almeida’s red Hyundai Elantra, he found several boxes of ammunition in the trunk and other parts of the vehicle. In total, the man had 600 rounds of .50 caliber tracer ammunition.

During questioning by federal authorities, Almeida said he was headed to one of the local international bridges where a man was waiting for him. The other man was driving a vehicle with Mexican license plates and was going to drive the ammunition into Reynosa, he stated. During a subsequent search of his house, authorities found 300 rounds of .50 caliber ammunition that had been shipped to Almeida. He also told authorities that he had acquired ammunition for his contacts in Mexico at least 30 other times in the past in exchange for cash, court records revealed.

At the time of the arrest, Almeida was a cadet at a local police academy, the U.S. Attorney’s Office revealed.

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While court documents do not specify who Almeida was buying the ammunition for. But, the city of Reynosa is controlled by the Metros faction of the Gulf Cartel which is currently going through a fierce turf war with a rival faction. This turf war has led to almost daily shootouts on the outskirts of Reynosa and Rio Bravo.

Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart management. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at Iortiz@breitbart.com. 

Brandon Darby is the managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and senior Breitbart management. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at bdarby@breitbart.com.