Austin Man Busted For Smuggling Guns, Ammo Into Mexico

AUSTIN, TX — An Austin man is among those accused in a scheme involving the smuggling of machine guns and ammunition into Mexico, officials at the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District announced Thursday.

Tyler Carlson, 28, of Austin; Michael Fox, 69, of Georgetown, Texas; and Tracy Garwood, 62, of Scottsdale, Ariz., were each charged with one count of conspiracy to violate multiple federal laws, including possessing and transferring unregistered machine guns and unlawfully exporting firearms to Mexico, according to the press release. Each faces up to 5 years in federal prison, officials said.

Carlson was also charged with one count of possession of an unregistered machine gun, punishable by up to 10 years in prison upon conviction. According to officials, Carlson worked with others to acquire and unlawfully smuggle 200 firearms including .50 caliber rifles and hundreds of thousands ammunition rounds to Mexico. Carlson is said to have worked Fox — a former law enforcement officer and federal firearms licensee — to illegally acquire multiple M-134G Minigun machine guns, officials said.

The M-134G is a six-barrel rotary machine gun capable of firing between 2,000 and 6,000 rounds of ammunition per minute. Fox then contacted Garwood, owner of Garwood Industries in Scottsdale, who agreed to help with the construction and supply Fox with M-134G parts, officials said.

“We need to vigorously enforce the firearm laws that are on the books, and these charges are part of that mission,” U.S. Attorney John F. Bash said in a prepared statement.

U.S. Attorney's Office officials detailed the scheme in their press release: Garwood submitted false paperwork to the ATF claiming he had destroyed multiple M-134G rotor housings—a key component of the M-134G that must be serialized and registered with the ATF. Instead, according to the Information, Garwood unlawfully transferred possession of those rotor housings to Fox.

On Feb. 8, 2017, authorities recovered three M134G rotor housings while executing a search warrant at Fox’s residence in Georgetown, Texas, officials said. Two of the rotor housings were ones that Garwood told ATF were destroyed. Prior to the search warrant, Fox successfully built multiple M-134G machineguns, unlawfully transferred them to Carlson, who in turn transferred them to an unnamed person. That person successfully smuggled M-134G machineguns to Mexico, officials said.

“Firearms trafficking is a priority for ATF because of the increased potential for those guns to be acquired by the criminal element,” said ATF Special Agent in Charge Fred Milanowski. Added Special Agent in Charge Shane Folden, of San Antonio: “By arresting weapons smugglers, law enforcement cuts the supply of firearms to the drug cartels, who fuel violence and pose a threat to citizens on both sides of the border.”

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