Acting United States Attorney Steven Russell announced that Marco A. Vallecillo, 26, of Omaha, Nebraska, was sentenced today in federal court in Omaha for possessing with intent to distribute marijuana and possessing a firearm during a drug trafficking crime. Chief United States District Judge Robert F. Rossiter, Jr. sentenced Vallecillo to 75 months’ imprisonment. There is no parole in the federal system. After his release from prison, Vallecillo will begin a three-year term of supervised release on the drug and firearms charges.
On April 26, 2021, a confidential source (CS) arranged for a controlled purchase of marijuana and a gun from Vallecillo at his home in Bellevue, Nebraska. The CS paid $1,000 and received a Polymer 80 PF940C 9mm handgun and marijuana. The firearm was determined to be a “ghost” gun – a firearm without a manufacturer’s serial number and unregistered with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, thus rendering it untraceable by law enforcement.
Following the controlled purchase of marijuana and the “ghost” gun, the Omaha Police Department and FBI Safe Streets Task Force executed a search warrant on Vallecillo’s home and seized several items including more than 2.5 kilograms of marijuana, drug packaging materials, drug scales, and other narcotics related paraphernalia. An SCCY 9mm handgun was also found within the residence.
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and Omaha Police Department. It is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. The Department of Justice reinvigorated PSN in 2017 as part of the Department’s renewed focus on targeting violent criminals, directing all U.S. Attorney’s Offices to work in partnership with federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement and the local community to develop effective, locally based strategies to reduce violent crime.