Investigators say social media posts linked 19-year-old to handgun recovered after deputies responded to report of people with guns

Organ Mountain News report

LAS CRUCES - A 19-year-old Las Cruces man has been charged with illegally receiving a firearm while under indictment after investigators connected him to a handgun through Instagram photos, messages and cell phone data.

According to court documents, Doña Ana County Sheriff’s deputies responded Aug. 31 to a call involving several people with firearms near Roe Deer Court and Cous Deer Avenue. Deputies had been looking for a sedan tied to an earlier shooting and found it along with a second vehicle.

The owner of the second vehicle told detectives she did not own firearms and allowed a search. Inside, deputies found a loaded handgun in the back seat with a round in the chamber and a 17-round magazine. She said she believed her passenger, Anthony Jacob Lopez, left the gun in her car.

A search warrant for Lopez’s Instagram account showed photos and videos of him holding the same handgun on multiple dates. Messages from July 14 showed an associate offering to sell him the gun for $600. Lopez confirmed the purchase July 18, writing, “Appreciate dat heater too brudda good a** deal.”

Photos on his phone also showed the gun inside his Las Cruces residence.

Lopez received a two-year deferred sentence March 5 on a smuggling charge in Texas and remains on supervised release. Under federal law, he is considered under indictment until that sentence is successfully completed and is prohibited from possessing or accepting firearms.

If convicted, Lopez faces up to five years in prison.

The case was investigated by the FBI’s Las Cruces Resident Agency with assistance from the Las Cruces Police Department and the Doña Ana County Sheriff’s Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney Maria Y. Armijo is prosecuting the case.

A criminal complaint is only an allegation. Lopez is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.