Mexican national pleads guilty to illegal firearms possession

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Elizabeth Talamantes, 39, pleaded guilty on March 16 in federal court to possession of firearms in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. Talamantes will remain in custody pending sentencing, which has not been scheduled.

A federal grand jury indicted Talamantes on Aug. 25, 2020. According to the plea agreement and other court records, Talamantes, a citizen of Mexico, was previously deported from the United States on Sept. 18, 2017. She was found present in Albuquerque on July 28, 2020, and admitted that she knowingly reentered the United States illegally.

On Aug. 4, 2020, while executing a search warrant on Talamantes’ residence, law enforcement found Suboxone strips, 1.2 grams of methamphetamine, two Glock handguns, a bag of ammunition, and 89 Clonazepam pills (50 grams). Talamantes admitted to possessing the narcotics with intent to distribute and that she possessed the firearms in furtherance of drug trafficking.

During the search of the residence, law enforcement also found 11 large glass jars and one large plastic bag of marijuana with a gross weight of 8,015.1 grams. Talamantes’ son, Ricardo Barron, 24, of Albuquerque, who lived at the residence with his mother, pleaded guilty on Feb 17 to possession with intent to distribute marijuana. Barron is scheduled to be sentenced on May 25. He faces up to five years in prison.

Talamantes faces a minimum of five years and up to life in prison, and has consented to removal from the United States upon completion of her sentence.

The Albuquerque Field Office of the FBI investigated this case. Assistant United States Attorney Letitia Carroll Simms is prosecuting the case.

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