A New York woman pled guilty to straw-purchasing handguns in Pennsylvania and bringing them back to New York before shipping them internationally.
Elizabeth Tejada, 35, became a suspect after police believed she purchased eight virtually identical firearms in Pennsylvania between November 2022 and April 2023.
The firearms are thought to have been shipped from the Northeast to a Miami-based shipping company that travels to the Dominican Republic regularly.
Prosecutors said Elizabeth Tejada, 35, pleaded guilty to her role in a gun-running conspiracy that crossed Pennsylvania and New York into the Dominican Republic.
Tejada is accused of straw-buying eight virtually identical firearms between November 2022 and April 2023 and smuggling them across state lines in a microwave.
Investigators were alerted to Tejada’s activities after she attempted to acquire another firearm in Pennsylvania and was stopped.
On Monday, prosecutors said Tejada’s purchase of similar firearms “strongly indicated that [Tejada] was engaged in straw-purchasing.”
Tejada was detained in October 2023 when investigators discovered that she was driving from New York to Pennsylvania to obtain firearms.
An unknown co-conspirator led her to make the purchases, telling her when to buy the guns and sending images of the required weaponry.
Photos from Tejada’s phone showed a dismantled microwave, which authorities believe was used to transport the firearms across state lines.
The firearms are thought to have been delivered from the Northeast to a Miami-based shipping company that often shipped to the Dominican Republic.
Investigators are claimed to have discovered a wire transfer of more than $3,000 wired to Tejada from an unknown source in the Dominican Republic.
Tejada is due to be sentenced in July, according to prosecutors.
Her co-conspirator, whom officials have not identified, was deported earlier this year and cannot be tried for their crimes.
