FirstAlerts
Crime & Courts

Texas Man Sentenced to 33 Months for Firearm Possession

A 38-year-old Mexican national was sentenced to federal prison for being a felon in possession of a firearm.

2 reports on this incident · first at Sep 2, 2026, 1:10 p.m. ET

By AI ReporterWritten Sep 2, 2026, 1:23 p.m. ET
Developing · checked 1h ago

This case is not concluded. The Justice Department announces the cases it brings and the ones it wins; it does not issue a release when a jury acquits or a judge dismisses. A charge reported here may since have been resolved in the defendant's favour without any further announcement.

We last searched for new coverage of this at Sep 2, 2026, 1:39 p.m. ET — checked 1h ago.

A 38-year-old man from Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, has been to 33 months in federal prison for being a felon in possession of a firearm, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Texas. Ivan Gerardo Castillo-Castro pleaded guilty on Jan. 29. At the sentencing hearing on Sept. 1, the court heard evidence of his prior convictions for assault and illegal reentry, as well as a gang-style assault on other inmates while awaiting sentencing. The court also noted his history of assaulting a domestic partner, a juvenile, and a police officer. According to the Justice Department, on Aug. 3, 2025, law enforcement found 22 grams of cocaine and a digital scale during a vehicle search. A subsequent search of his residence revealed a TEC-DC9 semiautomatic firearm capable of accepting a large-capacity magazine, fraudulent legal documents, and copies of a Social Security card belonging to another person. Castillo-Castro also admitted to selling another firearm. As an illegal alien, he is expected to face removal proceedings after his imprisonment. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives conducted the investigation with assistance from the Laredo Police Department, U.S. Marshals Service, and The Geo Group. Assistant U.S. Attorney Tae W. Chon prosecuted the case. The sentencing was announced on Sept. 2, 2026, in a press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Texas.

Earlier reports

  1. Sep 2, 2026, 1:10 p.m. ETFirst report

    Illegal Alien Sentenced to 33 Months for Firearm Possession

    A 38-year-old illegal alien from Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, Mexico, has been sentenced to 33 months in federal prison for being a felon in possession of a firearm, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Texas announced on September 2, 2026.

    Ivan Gerardo Castillo-Castro pleaded guilty on January 29. At the sentencing hearing on September 1, the court heard evidence of his criminal history, including prior convictions for assault and illegal reentry, and that he participated in a gang-style assault on other inmates while awaiting sentencing. The court also noted he had assaulted a domestic partner, a juvenile, and a police officer.

    According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, on August 3, 2025, during a search of a vehicle, law enforcement found 22 grams of cocaine and a digital scale. A subsequent search of his residence revealed a TEC-DC9 semiautomatic firearm capable of accepting a large-capacity magazine, fraudulent legal documents, and copies of a Social Security card belonging to another person. Castillo-Castro also admitted to selling another firearm.

    As a convicted felon, he is prohibited from possessing firearms under federal law. He is expected to face removal proceedings after his imprisonment. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives conducted the investigation with assistance from the Laredo Police Department, U.S. Marshals Service, and The Geo Group. Assistant U.S. Attorney Tae W. Chon prosecuted the case. The case is part of Operation Take Back America, a Department of Justice initiative.

Was this report accurate and useful?

Sources

Revision history

  1. Version 12 Sept 2026, 17:23current

    First published.

  2. Version 12 Sept 2026, 17:10current

    First published.

How we work

This site models an investigative reporter rather than a wire desk. The aim is the most complete, accurate and timely account we can assemble — all three, not a trade between them. Reports go out within minutes of the coverage they are built from, carrying context a newsroom would otherwise need a day and a records request to gather: what has happened at this place before, what the operator’s record is, which aircraft it actually was.

Reports are built from primary sources — accident and court records, official registries, weather observations, agency statements — and from reputable news organisations, each named where their reporting is used. Facts are extracted before anything is written, and every one must be supported by a quotation found in the source itself; the model that writes the report is given only those verified facts and never sees the article, so it cannot introduce a detail no source stated.

Where sources disagree we publish the disagreement, attributed, rather than picking a figure. Where a fact comes from a record rather than a reporter, we say so, and the language matches: an instrument reading is never described as something anyone confirmed. Some things are deliberately withheld — a suspect is not named until an agency names them on the record, victims until families or officials release them — and corrections appear as visible revisions, never as silent edits.

None of that makes a report true. A quotation check proves a source said something, not that it was right, and an automated system can be confidently wrong in ways the checks do not catch. If something here is wrong, the feedback above is how it gets found. The full methodology, including what we refuse to publish.