Immigration and Customs Enforcement has recently announced that Fidel Ignacio Cisneros of Lynnwood, Washington was arrested and sentenced to 46 months in federal prison and two years of supervised release after he violated the Arms Export Control Act and International Traffic in Arms Regulations.  

Cisneros was a soldier in the U.S. Army and conducted multiple missions in Iraq and other hostile areas.  ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS) found that Cisneros stole the following items and more:

•    three Acquired Tactical Illuminating Laser Aimers (Atilla-200 lasers)
•    an ACOG rifle scope

He brought these items back with him to Orlando without permission from the Department of Defense.  

After the items were smuggled to the United States, Cisneros put one of the Atilla-200 lasers up for auction with his eBay account, sold the device for $3,200, and shipped the device to Tokyo.  Category XII(b) of the U.S. Munitions List under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations restricts the exportation of Atilla-200 lasers without a proper license.  

Cisneros auctioned other restricted items during March of 2010.  During two different transactions, a PEQ AN/PEQ-14 night vision pointer illuminator and Thuraya Satellite phone docker FDU 2500 were shipped to California.  A Thuraya Hughes 7101 satellite GSM+GPS was shipped to Kuwait, and a PEQ/Atilla 200 rail mounted laser was shipped to Nevada.  

On January 26, 2011, Cisneros admitted that he knew he was not allowed to possess the items and knew selling the items to civilians was illegal.  All of the items were eventually recovered except for the satellite phone.  

Shane Folden, deputy special agent in charge of HSI Tampa, stated, “We have protection in place to ensure that sensitive technologies do not end up in the hands of our adversaries.  This individual, a former soldier, completely disregarded our country’s export laws solely to make a dollar.”

Source: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement