Kansas City used car dealer, two others face federal gun, drug trafficking charges

Robert A. Cronkleton
·2 min read
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Three Kansas City area men, including one who owns used car dealership, have been accused of violating federal firearm and drug trafficking laws, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Western District of Missouri.

The U.S. attorney has charged each of the men — 23-year-old Alejandro Zavala and 30-year-old Cody Bonhomme of Kansas City and 22-year-old Kaleb Acuna of Independence — with one count of conspiracy to traffic firearms and one count of drug trafficking, according to court documents that were unsealed this week after their arrest.

Zavala is the owner of A&M Auto Sales, a used car dealership at 7001 E. Truman Road in Kansas City, according to court documents.

Officers executing search warrants at the suspects’ homes arrested the three men on Wednesday. Officers seized 82 firearms, four silencers and 34 suspected machine gun conversion devices. They also seized 1.5 pounds of cocaine, according to the U.S. Attorney.

According to court documents, a confidential informant told investigators with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives that Zavala allegedly was working with others to distribute large amounts of cocaine, firearms and machine gun conversion devices.

The informant told investigators that Zavala had several stash houses in the Kansas City area where he kept the firearms and illegal drugs. Bonhomme lived in one of the houses and Acuna lived in another. They both allegedly sold firearms and drugs from the homes, according to the U.S. attorney.

The U.S. attorney contends the three men conspired from March 1 to May 31 to traffic firearms to another person knowing that it was illegal for that person to possess a firearm. During that time, they allegedly sold 11 firearms to an undercover law enforcement officer or an informant.

They also allegedly trafficked in marijuana and cocaine during that period, according to the U.S. attorney.

The defendants made their initial court appearances Wednesday and remained in federal custody pending a detention hearing.

The ATF along with the Kansas City Police Department investigated the case, which is part of the Project Safe Neighborhoods program aimed at reducing violent crime and gun violence.