Reno To Bay Area Gun Smugglers Sentenced

OAKLAND, CA — Three Nevada residents have been sentenced in federal court in Oakland to terms ranging from home confinement to three and one-half years in prison for their roles in running guns from Reno to Oakland.

Richard Straight, 27, of Reno, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Haywood Gilliam on Monday to three years and six months in prison. Straight pleaded guilty in September to one count of dealing in guns without a license and one count of aiding interstate travel to promote illegal gun trafficking.

His wife, Jenna Allec, 26, of Reno, who pleaded guilty to one count of selling guns without a license, was sentenced to two years of home confinement and ordered to perform 200 hours of community service.

Straight's half-brother, Kenneth Kemp, 32, of Elko, who pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to sell guns without a license, was sentenced to one year and two months in prison.

Prosecutors said in a sentencing brief that Allec and Kemp bought guns in Nevada which they then transferred to Straight, who acted as a middleman to resell the guns to two Oakland men who were allegedly the central figures in the scheme. Straight had a previous felony conviction and it was illegal for him to buy guns.

One of the Oakland residents, Edgar de la Cruz, 20, pleaded guilty to four charges in August and was sentenced by Gilliam in November to 10 years in prison.

De la Cruz's four convictions were for robbing an Oakland gas station in 2015, using a gun to do so, conspiring to traffic in firearms without a license, and traveling interstate to promote illegal firearms trafficking.

The other Oakland man, Andre Winn, 32, is awaiting trial.

Prosecutors allege the two men traveled to Nevada to pick up the guns and brought them to Oakland in duffel bags on Greyhound bus trips, on which they would not have security inspections. The men allegedly sold the
guns in Oakland for money or drugs.

U.S. Attorney's Office spokesman Abraham Simmons said Straight admitted in his plea agreement to being responsible for the sale of about 39 guns and rifles for a profit of $50 to $100 per firearm. Kemp admitted to
trafficking in 21 guns and Allec to 19.

Prosecutors said 10 of the guns have been recovered and most were seized during investigations of robbery, drug dealing and murder.

"These guns help perpetuate violent crime and drug trafficking," prosecutors wrote in their brief.

"The damage that this organization has caused to the community will only be fully realized in the years to come as law enforcement continues to recover the guns and link them to criminals and completed crimes," the federal prosecutors alleged.

Both prosecution and defense lawyers recommended that Allec should be sentenced to home confinement with conditions that would allow her to continue working at her job and caring for her young son.