Former Border Patrol supervisor found guilty of illegal transport of firearms

A former Border Patrol supervisor and agent was convicted by a San Diego federal jury on seven counts of illegal transportation of firearms and one count of possession of a short-barreled rifle.

The verdict was read against Martin Rene Duran on Friday following a three-day trial. This was his second trial in the case; a jury in October could not reach a unanimous verdict and a mistrial was declared.

According to evidence shown at trial, Duran bought the guns in Arizona using an Arizona driver’s license that listed an address at which he didn’t live. In fact, he was not an Arizona resident but lived in California, the evidence showed.

The purchases were made in 2011, 2013 and 2014, according to the evidence.

A search warrant was executed in October 2015 at Duran’s Chula Vista home in connection with an unrelated investigation into civil rights violations. Agents found several firearms that were illegal in California and the short-barreled rifle, which is legal as long as it is registered under the National Firearms Act.

Duran’s legal woes are not over.

He is facing another trial on allegations that he used his authority to intimidate a Mexican man who accused Duran’s brother-in-law of sexually abusing his young sons.

Duran is accused of entering false warnings in a computer system that tracks border crossings, including notations that the Mexican man was known to carry guns or was linked to drug traffickers. The warnings caused border authorities to stop the man several times as he crossed, sometimes with his family, prosecutors said.

Duran’s brother-in-law, Raymundo Estrada Figueroa, is being tried on child sexual abuse allegations. He was reportedly having an affair with the mother of the boys he is accused of molesting.

kristina.davis@sduniontribune.com

Davis writes for the San Diego Union-Tribune.