Arizona man sentenced after pleading guilty in RivCo firearms smuggling case

An Arizona man pleaded guilty to multiple charges today and was immediately sentenced to jail time and probation for illegally smuggling firearms and ammunition across a state border.

Alexis Ayala Molina, 22, of Phoenix, pleaded guilty at the Larson Justice Center in Indio to one of 29 original counts of assault weapon possession and two of 15 counts of removing or altering firearm identification marks.

The other 41 aforementioned charges, as well as an additional count of manufacturing or transporting an assault weapon, were dismissed as part of the plea deal.

Ayala Molina was immediately sentenced to three years behind bars, with one year suspended as probation, according to the case report and John Hall of the Riverside County District Attorney's Office.

U.S. Border Patrol agents stopped a vehicle traveling westbound July 1 near Chiriaco Summit due to the vehicle's ``suspicious and unsafe'' actions, according to Riverside County Sheriff's Department Sgt. Cameron James.

During the stop, agents allegedly discovered a cache of 29 illegal firearms, including 27 assault rifles, a bolt-action rifle and a semiautomatic pistol with miscellaneous ammunition. Fifteen of the weapons had obliterated serial numbers, James said.

The driver, Ayala Molina, was arrested after investigators determined the weapons were being smuggled from Tempe, Arizona, into California, authorities said.

Ayala Molina was booked into the John Benoit Detention Center in Indio and held on $55,000 bail. He initially pleaded not guilty to all charges during his July 5 arraignment, according to court records.

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