Family arrested in gun bust; feds raid LC, Deming stores

A family with gun stores in Las Cruces and Deming was arrested early Tuesday on federal charges they were illegally selling guns and ammunition to Mexican cartel members. Rick Reese, a federal firearms licensee and the owner of New Deal Shooting Sports II on Amador Avenue and New Deal Shooting Sports in Deming, his wife Terri and their two sons Ryin and Remington were arrested Tuesday morning in Las Cruces. The four reportedly sold weapons allegedly favored by Mexican cartels - 27 AK-47-type rifles, three AR-15 rifles, two .50 caliber rifles, and two 9 mm pistols - to undercover agents after their alleged smuggling activities were discovered, according to the indictment. In the 30-count indictment, which was unsealed Tuesday, Rick Reese, 55, Terri Reese, 48, 24-year-old Ryin Reese and 19-year-old Remington Reese are charged variously with conspiring to smuggle firearms and make false statements, firearms smuggling and money laundering from April 2010 until July 2011...more