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ATF agents in Dallas distance themselves from nationwide scrutiny

By JASON TRAHAN, Staff Writer
jtrahan@dallasnews.com

Dallas ATF agents said Friday that they don’t intentionally allow guns to be smuggled into Mexico, an alleged investigative technique now under fire in Arizona and the subject of congressional and Justice Department inquiries.

Robert Champion, special agent in charge of the local Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, acknowledged this week, though, that his agents did delay arresting three Lancaster men for three months after confiscating a load of guns the men intended to smuggle across the border to the Zeta cartel in November.

It was only after a gun used to kill Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agent Jaime Zapata in Mexico last month was traced back to North Texas that local ATF agents moved quickly to arrest the Lancaster trio.

“I know people will criticize us for not taking these guys down immediately,” Champion said. “But we weren’t sure what they were up to.”

Brothers Otilio Osorio, 22, Ranferi Osorio, 27, and neighbor Kelvin Leon Morrison, 25, were arrested Feb. 28 on federal weapons charges and remain in custody.

During a probable cause hearing Friday in federal court, Otilio Osorio’s attorney Camille Knight tried to question the ATF agent about the controversial Arizona investigation, known as Operation Fast and Furious, but the prosecutor objected on relevancy grounds. The magistrate judge sustained the objection, cutting off further questioning about the matter.

After the hearing, Knight described her client as a “scared” young man. “This is his first brush with the judicial system,” she said. “This case is bigger than what’s been presented in court today.” She declined to elaborate.

ATF tactics nationwide are under intense scrutiny since agents in Arizona began speaking out about Operation Fast and Furious. The initiative allegedly allowed the smuggling of hundreds of guns into Mexico in order to gather evidence on the drug cartel bosses coordinating the effort.

In December, U.S. border patrol agent Brian Terry was killed in a shootout with bandits just north of the Mexican border in Arizona. Two weapons allegedly used in that attack were among those the ATF had allowed to “walk” into Mexico, authorities have said.

ATF officials in Washington deny that the agency lets guns slip into Mexico. This week, however, the Justice Department announced a nationwide review of bureau practices.

Local case

Despite the widespread scope of his agency’s review, Champion said this week that the Arizona allegations have nothing to do with his office’s Lancaster investigation.

“We don’t walk guns here, period,” Champion said. “Even to the extent that it jeopardizes getting the bigger players. We don’t want the guns falling into the wrong hands.”

He said that the Draco AK-47 pistol used in the murder of Zapata was purchased in October by Otilio Osorio — a month before ATF agents in Dallas began investigating him and his associates.

Champion, however, said he doesn’t know when the weapon was smuggled into Mexico and conceded that it could have occurred even after his agents began their probe in November.

“The possibility does exist,” Champion said.

The investigation of the three Lancaster men began in November with a tip in Laredo that smugglers in Lancaster were helping move guns across the border, court documents show.

ATF Dallas was notified. Agents here supplied their own informant, who set up a Nov. 9 meeting with the three Lancaster men.

The informant, driving a tractor trailer, met with the Osorios in parking lot in southern Dallas County.

The suspects gave the informant duffel bags containing 40 guns and instructed him to be at the border in eight or nine hours. The Lancaster men and the informant then parted ways. A government plane flew overhead to help with surveillance.

A few miles down Interstate 35, ATF agents boarded the informant’s semi and discovered that most of the guns’ serial numbers had been obliterated, a violation of federal law. Agents seized the guns before they reached the Mexican border.

Arrest delay

Champion said that his agents could have arrested the Lancaster men that day for possession of guns with obliterated serial numbers.

“This wasn’t our case at this point,” Champion said. “We were protecting an investigation that DEA had in Laredo with ATF down there. We were concerned about that case and weren’t sure where they were going with that.”

Over the next three months, the men were not placed under round-the-clock surveillance because of staffing shortages in Dallas and other field divisions, local officials said.

Champion wouldn’t say if ATF or DEA were monitoring the men’s phone calls. He said agents periodically went to Lancaster to question the men. “We didn’t have any intelligence they were moving other guns,” he said.

The first traces on the guns from the November transaction were not completed until late January, Champion said. Half of the guns were bought by Morrison in small batches dating back to July, court documents show. Some were purchased from shops in Dallas.

While that investigation was ongoing, Zapata was gunned down Feb. 15 in San Luis Potosi, Mexico.

Swift action

The death of Zapata, the first U.S. agent killed on Mexican soil since the DEA lost Agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena in 1985, sent American authorities on the warpath throughout the U.S. and Latin American for answers. Suspicion quickly centered on the brutal Zeta cartel.

Dallas is a known Zeta trafficking hub, and the last week of February, agents saturated North Texas, visiting informants and known associates to scoop up leads. Nearly 60 arrests were made that week throughout North Texas and Oklahoma.

In the middle of that crackdown, on Feb. 23 and Feb. 24, ATF agents questioned the Osorio brothers and Morrison in Lancaster. At that point, authorities did not know that one of the guns used to kill Zapata was linked to North Texas.

It wasn’t until the evening of Feb. 25 that Dallas ATF agents got word that one of the guns used to kill the ICE agent was purchased by Otilio Osorio in October from a licensed dealer from Joshua. The Osorios and Morrison were arrested the following Monday, Feb. 28.

Champion said that chronic staffing shortages and the pressure to obtain high-profile arrests, makes the job of ATF agents — including around the clock surveillance of suspects — difficult.

“We’ve been criticized for not going after the bigger rings,” Champion said. “It’s damned if you do, damned if you don’t.”

Oct. 10: Otilio Osorio purchases a Draco AK-47 pistol from gun shop south of Fort Worth.

Nov. 5: The DEA and ATF coordinate undercover weapons purchase by an informant in North Texas.

Nov. 9: An ATF informant meets with Osorio brothers and another suspect and arranges transfer of 40 weapons, including a dozen Draco AK-47 pistols. No arrest occurs, but weapons are later seized in Laredo.

Dec. 14: Border patrol Agent Brian Terry is gunned down; weapons at the scene traced to ATF smuggling operation.

Feb. 15: ICE Agent Jaime Zapata is killed in Mexico.

Feb. 25: A Draco AK-47 pistol used in Zapata’s murder is traced to Otilio Osorio.

Feb. 28: Osorio brothers are arrested on gun-smuggling charges.