SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, July 10, 2024 (Gephardt Daily) — West Valley City resident Axel Castillo Hernandez has been sentenced to 24 months in prison after he admitted participating in the burglary of two federal firearms licensees in which he and his co-conspirator rammed a vehicle through the front doors of Xtreme Pawn and 1st Cash Pawn in 2022 and stole firearms.
In addition to 20-year-old Hernandez’s term of imprisonment, U.S. District Court Judge Tena Campbell ordered that he serve a term of three years’ supervised release and pay a fine of $250,000, says a statement issued by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Utah.
The sentencing comes nearly a year after Hernandez’s co-defendant, Angel Jovanny Gonzalez-Luna, 21, pleaded guilty and was sentenced in August 2023.
According to court documents and statements made at Hernandez’s change of plea hearing in March 2024, Hernandez and his co-defendant, Luna, smashed stolen vehicles through the front of Xtreme Pawn and 1st Cash Pawn in August and September of 2022.
“As a result, the owners’ vehicles and business owners’ property suffered extensive damage,” the statement says. “During the burglaries, Hernandez and Luna stole approximately 30 firearms. According to ATF, one of the stolen firearms was recovered in December 2022 and later forensically linked to a homicide.”
There is no evidence showing that Hernandez was responsible for, or in any way participated in that homicide; rather, it shows Hernandez and Luna sold or otherwise disposed of the stolen firearms without regard for how they would be used, the news release says.
In October 2023, Hernandez, who was a fugitive for over a year, was arrested, but not without first fleeing from law enforcement by vehicle and on foot.
United States Attorney Trina A. Higgins made the announcement. The case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives.
An Assistant United States Attorney from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Utah prosecuted the case.
