The Berks County District Attorney’s Office wrote in a Facebook post Monday Ian Diaz-Reales, 27, of Reading, was apprehended by law enforcement March 2 at the airport trying to smuggle 67 pounds of marijuana on an outbound flight.
Diaz-Reales was then eventually extradited back to Pennsylvania where he is facing multiple firearm charges. He was arraigned by Judge Richard Drumheller and bail was set at $100,000,00.
He was wanted for “straw purchasing” firearms, also known as buying a firearm for someone who can not purchase the item. The DA’s Office wrote that at least eight handguns from March 2020 to April 2023 were bought at area licensed dealers by Diaz-Reales.
Four of those guns were later seized after being linked to gang and other illegal activity by law enforcement, the post states.
“We will not tolerate individuals who exploit the legal firearm purchasing systems to arm criminals and fuel violence in our communities,” Berks County District Attorney John T. Adams wrote in a statement. “This investigation is a good example of the recent initiative of the Berks County Gun Violence Reduction Task Force to not only focus on current acts of violence but also investigate past crimes involving firearms and determine how these handguns entered our community and how these offenders obtained these guns which were used as a tool for violence. The goal is to stop and reduce this practice of otherwise legal purchasers to divert handguns to those who are ineligible to possess a gun. This arrest sends a clear message that our office, alongside our law enforcement partners, will relentlessly pursue those who threaten public safety through gun trafficking and drug smuggling.”
He will not face charges in Pennsylvania for the drug smuggling, instead, the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey is prosecuting that case.
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