Federal prosecutors said Gerald Anthony Lopez sold cocaine and a handgun equipped with a conversion device before later fleeing a Luna County checkpoint at about 140 mph

Organ Mountain News report

ALBUQUERQUE - A Deming man was sentenced to 101 months in federal prison after admitting he possessed a machine gun while trafficking cocaine and later fled a U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint at speeds reaching about 140 mph.

Gerald Anthony Lopez, 20, also will serve three years of supervised release after completing his prison sentence, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Mexico. There is no parole in the federal system.

According to court documents and Lopez’s plea agreement, an undercover law enforcement officer bought cocaine from Lopez on Feb. 11, 2025.

During the transaction, prosecutors said Lopez displayed a Glock handgun equipped with an extended magazine and a machine gun conversion device, commonly called a “switch.” He allegedly offered to sell the firearm for $1,300 with the device installed or $1,000 without it and said he could supply additional firearms, conversion devices and narcotics.

Nine days later, Lopez sold cocaine and the handgun equipped with the conversion device to an undercover officer for $1,300, according to prosecutors.

Lopez demonstrated how the device converted the handgun from semiautomatic to fully automatic fire and said the extended magazine contained 30 rounds, court documents state.

In his plea agreement, Lopez admitted he knowingly possessed and carried the machine gun in furtherance of cocaine trafficking, understood the device converted the firearm into a machine gun and had personally modified the handgun.

Checkpoint pursuit reached about 140 mph

In a separate incident on May 6, 2025, Lopez fled after Border Patrol agents referred him to secondary inspection at a checkpoint in Luna County, according to prosecutors.

He led agents on a pursuit along Interstate 10 that reached about 140 mph in an area where the posted speed limit was 75 mph.

Lopez pleaded guilty to high-speed flight from an immigration checkpoint, using and carrying a firearm during and in relation to a drug trafficking crime, illegal possession of a machine gun and possession of a firearm not registered in the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives investigated the firearms case with the New Mexico State Police. The U.S. Border Patrol El Paso Sector investigated the checkpoint flight.

The Las Cruces Branch Office of the U.S. Attorney’s Office prosecuted the case.

Machine gun conversion devices allow semiautomatic firearms to fire continuously with a single trigger pull. Federal law generally prohibits possessing, manufacturing or selling the devices without proper authorization.

Tips involving illegal firearms or conversion devices may be reported to the ATF at 1-888-283-8477, ATFTips@atf.gov or through the agency’s online tip portal.