Presidio resident Tiburcio “Butch” Acosta pleaded guilty in federal court on July 7 to felony gun smuggling charges after reaching a plea agreement — which is not public — with prosecutors.
In addition to the two counts of smuggling goods, which can result in fines of up to $250,000 and 10 years in prison, Acosta initially faced a firearms trafficking charge that was not pursued by prosecutors in the deal.
Acosta —a popular manager of a duty-free tax store and a barbecue caterer — was arrested on November 13. He was released on a bond of $3,000 on December 12 after spending a month in detention on the charges that he helped smuggle weapons and ammunition to the La Linea cartel in Ojinaga, Mexico, according to federal court records.
Attorneys for Acosta argued in bond hearings that evidence found of him in possession of guns was merely favors for friends trying not to break Mexican law by bringing weapons into Mexico.
“[Acosta] told the agents that he had allowed persons known to him to store firearms at his property or in his parked vehicles if they were traveling into Mexico so that they would not cross the border with firearms, but he denied being involved in any trafficking of firearms across the border,” Acosta’s attorneys wrote in their motion for bail release.
U.S. Assistant Attorney Steven Spitzer wrote in a motion to deny his release that investigators had mobile phone records from Acosta, Adalberto Jaquez-Hinojosa, and another source with discussions about smuggling weapons to the La Linea cartel. “These conversations indicated that trafficked firearms were dropped off with Defendant in Presidio prior to being taken across the border,” the prosecution’s appeal motion stated. “The firearms discussed included a SCAR which is a high-powered military grade assault rifle as well as other semi-automatic firearms highly sought after by cartels.”
Acosta has a sentencing hearing set for October 27. Juaquez-Hinojosa, also a Presidio-area resident, pleaded guilty to two counts of smuggling goods in the case this spring in a plea agreement. He is set to be sentenced on September 25.
Court records show Acosta is under nighttime curfews on his conditions of release, which the court changed on several occasions to allow him to work — including spending the night in Fort Davis after catering a wedding. He recently spoke to the Presidio City Council on June 22 declaring his intent to open a small RV park in Presidio.
