Last defendant sentenced after gun theft in WVC 2022

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, July 10, 2024 (Gephardt Daily) – West Valley City resident Axel Castillo Hernandez was sentenced to 24 months in prison after admitting to participating in a burglary of two federal firearms license holders in which he and his co-conspirator drove a vehicle through the front doors of Xtreme Pawn and 1st Cash Pawn in 2022 and stole firearms.

In addition to the prison sentence for Hernandez, 20, U.S. District Judge Tena Campbell ordered him to serve three years’ probation and pay a $250,000 fine, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Utah.

The verdict came nearly a year after Hernandez’s co-defendant, 21-year-old Angel Jovanny Gonzalez-Luna, pleaded guilty and was sentenced in August 2023.

According to court documents and testimony at Hernandez’s March 2024 plea change hearing, Hernandez and his co-defendant Luna drove stolen vehicles through the facade of Xtreme Pawn and 1st Cash Pawn in August and September 2022.

“As a result, the owners’ vehicles and property sustained significant damage,” the statement said. “During the break-ins, Hernandez and Luna stole approximately 30 firearms. According to ATF, one of the stolen firearms was recovered in December 2022 and later forensically linked to a homicide.”

There is no evidence that Hernandez was responsible for the murder or was involved in any way. Rather, it shows that Hernandez and Luna sold or otherwise disposed of the stolen firearms without regard to their intended use, the press release states.

In October 2023, Hernandez, who had been on the run for over a year, was arrested, but not before fleeing from law enforcement by car and on foot.

US Attorney Trina A. Higgins made the announcement. The case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

An Assistant U.S. Attorney in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Utah prosecuted the case.