ATF gunwalking scandal
2006–2008: Operation Wide Receiver and other probes
### 2006–2008: Operation Wide Receiver and other probes

#### Operation Wide Receiver

[thumb\|250px\|The suspicious sale of [AR\-15s](/wiki/AR-15 "AR-15") led to Operation Wide Receiver.](/wiki/File:AR15_A3_Tactical_Carbine_pic1.jpg "AR15 A3 Tactical Carbine pic1.jpg")
The first known ATF gunwalking operation to Mexican drug cartels, named Operation Wide Receiver, began in early 2006 and ran into late 2007\. Licensed dealer Mike Detty of Mad Dawg Global informed the ATF of a suspicious gun purchase that took place in February 2006, in [Tucson, Arizona](/wiki/Tucson%2C_Arizona "Tucson, Arizona"). In March, he was hired as a confidential informant working with the ATF's Tucson office, part of their Phoenix, Arizona field division.

With the use of surveillance equipment, ATF agents monitored additional sales by Detty to straw purchasers. With assurance from ATF "that Mexican officials would be conducting surveillance or interdictions when guns got to the other side of the border", Detty would sell a total of about 450 guns during the operation. These included semi\-automatic [AR\-15s](/wiki/AR-15 "AR-15"), semi\-automatic AK\-pattern rifles, and Colt .38s. The majority of the guns were eventually lost as they moved into Mexico.

As the later [DOJ OIG](/wiki/United_States_Department_of_Justice_Office_of_the_Inspector_General "United States Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General") Report documented, under Wide Receiver coordination of ATF Tucson with the ATF Mexico City Office (MCO) and with Mexican law enforcement had been haphazard. Discussions of getting tracking devices from [Raytheon](/wiki/Raytheon "Raytheon") were not followed up. ATF field agents and the cooperating gun dealer had been told by ATF supervisors that the guns were being interdicted before they could reach Mexico, but only 64 of the 474 guns had actually been seized. The kingpin sought by walking the guns, Israel Egurrola\-Leon, turned out to be the target of a larger drug case Operation Iron River run by [OCDETF](/wiki/Organized_Crime_Drug_Enforcement_Task_Force "Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force"). After Operation Wide Receiver was ended, several attorneys at the Phoenix USAO who reviewed the Wide Receiver cases for prosecution found the cases had been so poorly managed that they were reluctant to bring any of them to trial.

At the time, under the [Bush administration](/wiki/Presidency_of_George_W._Bush "Presidency of George W. Bush") [Department of Justice](/wiki/United_States_Department_of_Justice "United States Department of Justice") (DOJ), no arrests or indictments were made. After President [Barack Obama](/wiki/Barack_Obama "Barack Obama") took office in 2009, the DOJ reviewed Wide Receiver and found that guns had been allowed into the hands of suspected gun traffickers. Indictments began in 2010, over three years after Wide Receiver concluded. , nine people had been charged with making false statements in acquisition of firearms and illicit transfer, shipment or delivery of firearms. As of November, charges against one defendant had been dropped; five of them had pleaded guilty, and one had been sentenced to one year and one day in prison. Two of them remained fugitives.

#### The Hernandez case

Another, smaller probe occurred in 2007, under the same ATF Phoenix field division. The Fidel Hernandez case began when the ATF identified Mexican suspects who bought weapons from a Phoenix gun shop over a span of several months. The probe ultimately involved over 200 guns, a dozen of which were lost in Mexico. On September 27, 2007, ATF agents saw the original suspects buying weapons at the same store and followed them toward the Mexican border. The ATF informed the Mexican government when the suspects successfully crossed the border, but Mexican law enforcement were unable to track them.

Less than two weeks later, on October 6, William Newell, then ATF's Special Agent in Charge (SAC) of the Phoenix field division, shut down the operation at the behest of William Hoover, ATF's assistant director for the office of field operations. No charges were filed. Newell, who was Phoenix ATF SAC from June 2006 to May 2011, would later play a major role in Operation Fast and Furious.

The Hernandez case was referenced in a briefing paper prepared for Attorney General [Michael Mukasey](/wiki/Michael_Mukasey "Michael Mukasey") prior to his meeting with the Mexican Attorney General Medina Mora on November 16, 2007\. The paper stated, "ATF has recently worked jointly with Mexico on the first\-ever attempt to have a controlled delivery of weapons being smuggled into Mexico by a major arms trafficker" and that "the first attempts at this controlled delivery have not been successful". The paper also stated, "ATF would like to expand the possibility of such joint investigations and controlled deliveries—since only then will it be possible to investigate an entire smuggling network, rather than arresting simply a single smuggler."

Investigators regarded the Hernandez Case as an example of "controlled delivery" with surveillance and involvement of Mexican authorities rather than gunwalking or failure to attempt interdiction.

#### The Medrano case

The 2008 Alejandro Medrano case involved both ATF SAC William Newell and cooperating Tucson gun dealer Mike Detty of Operation Wide Receiver. ATF Phoenix allowed about 100 guns to be taken into Mexico over the objections of [U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement](/wiki/U.S._Immigration_and_Customs_Enforcement "U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement") (ICE) personnel who became aware of the case. Phoenix ATF SAC Newell acknowledged to ICE "that letting guns cross the border was part of ATF's plan". In August 2010, Medrano was sentenced to 46 months, his associate Hernan Ramos received 50 months and their fellow conspirators received prison terms from 14 to 30 months, but the target, a [Sinaloa Cartel](/wiki/Sinaloa_Cartel "Sinaloa Cartel") kingpin, Javier Elenes Ruiz, nicknamed "Rambo," remained untouched inside Mexico. [Fatally Flawed: Five Years of Gunwalking in Arizona](http://democrats.oversight.house.gov/sites/democrats.oversight.house.gov/files/documents/Fast%20and%20Furious.Minority%20Report.pdf)  (Report of the Minority Staff, Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, Ranking Member; Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, U.S. House of Representatives, January 2012\)


Should law enforcement agencies prioritize monitoring sales to straw purchasers over attempting to seize guns before they cross the border?