Chronicle: Othon Marban pleads guilty to attempting to run guns to Mexico: «I regret having put my boy into this»

Othon Marban and son plead guilty to attempting to run guns to Mexico.

They will spend two years in prison for arming themselves to the teeth.

The pair claimed that they were only trying to protect family in Mexico.

A Mexican man and his youngest son were sentenced yesterday to serve two long years behind bars for having amassed firearms which they intended to take back to their homeland. The Georgia authorities stated that they were for drug traffickers but the pair insisted the guns were so their family could protect themselves.

The problems of this father, 56, and son, 20, both named Othon Marban, began almost a year ago on December 3, 2021, when they were traveling on Interstate 985 in Hall County, Georgia. A patrolman from that town stopped them for a traffic violation.

He found a stash of rifles, pistols and revolvers

Hall County Sheriff’s Office

The officer asked for their consent to search the vehicle and they agreed. It didn’t take long for him to find 51 firearms in the trunk, including 12 rifles, 20 pistols and 19 revolvers of different calibers. After being questioned about why they had that arsenal, they said they were taking it to Mexico.

The policeman then arrested them on charges of arms trafficking, but the problem became more complicated when they were accused of supplying weapons to Mexican drug cartels. However, they insisted that the weapons were so that their relatives there could protect themselves from crime. Filed Under: Othon Marban gun running

They tricked stores into selling them guns

Hall County Sheriff’s Office

Their big mistake was not telling the truth to the businesses where they legally acquired the weapons. When the Marbans bought them, they should have stated their real intentions, which were to take them out of the country, but they did not. The weapons were purchased in Academy Sports Outdoors, Foxhole Gun & Archery, Georgia Gun Store, Outdoor Depot, and Dawsonville Gun and Pawn.

The Marbans pleaded guilty to making false statements in order to obtain the firearms. What was never really clear during the trial is whether these weapons would go into the hands of the dangerous drug traffickers in the state of Guerrero or if they really were for their loved ones to defend themselves. Filed Under: Othon Marban gun running

Two people with no criminal records.

(AP Photo/Jae C. Hong,)

The strange thing is that, since the elder Marban emigrated to the United States several decades ago, he had never been arrested for anything. Having such a clean record even allowed him to legalize his immigration status to the point of becoming a United States citizen. His son, who was born in the US, also has a clean record.

Still, that didn’t help stop them from going to jail. The’ defense always maintained that their clients wanted the guns for their relatives because they lived in fear in Mexico due to the violence. “They believed that without these weapons, sooner or later they could get hurt,” attorney Mildred Dunn said during the trial. Filed Under: Othon Marban gun running

It was not the first time they traveled together to Mexico

Hall County Sheriff’s Office

The lawyer further revealed that Mr. Marban was devastated that he had unwittingly dragged his boy into this tremendous legal mess. «He feels immensely guilty about it,» reported the Gainesville Times.

Unfortunately for the defendants, the judge followed the sentencing recommendation of the Prosecutor, which even presented evidence that both had previously gone to Mexico and that they surely had more weapons with them. «Smuggling weapons into Mexico is an injustice to the people who live there,» they said. Thank you for reading my chronicle today in MundoNow Until next time. Filed Under: Othon Marban gun running