Georgia – A Georgia firearms case that began with a purchase at a Fayetteville gun store and later reached an immigration courtroom has ended with guilty pleas from a husband and wife accused of breaking federal gun laws and trying to hide the truth from authorities.
Federal prosecutors said Brenda Rojano-Gonzalez, 26, an illegal alien from Temimilco, Mexico, unlawfully handled and fired a weapon at a Fayette County gun range.
Her husband, Steven Estrada Feregrino, 29, of Fayetteville, Georgia, admitted to lying under oath before an immigration judge and making false statements tied to a separate firearms purchase, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia.
The case, according to the Department of Justice, stretches back to August 8, 2025, when prosecutors said Estrada gave a woman $4,600 to buy firearms for him from a Fayetteville gun store. The woman purchased seven firearms and falsely claimed she was the real buyer. Authorities said she later turned the weapons over to Estrada and Miguel Angela Varela-Posas, a previously deported illegal alien.
Less than a week later, those firearms were recovered at the Del Rio, Texas port of entry inside a van headed for Mexico, according to federal prosecutors. The case became part of a broader investigation involving firearm trafficking, immigration violations and alleged attempts to move weapons outside the United States.
Two months after the gun purchase, Estrada and Rojano-Gonzalez went to a gun range. Prosecutors said surveillance cameras recorded Rojano-Gonzalez handling and discharging a firearm. Immigration authorities later arrested her.
At a November 5, 2025 immigration court hearing, Estrada testified under oath that his wife had never fired a weapon at a gun range. Prosecutors said that statement was false and was made in an effort to help secure her release from custody.
“Illegal aliens are strictly prohibited from possessing weapons in our country, and federal law prudently prohibits lawful residents from telling lies to facilitate illicit gun trafficking,” said U.S Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg.
“Through their deceitful conduct, this husband-and-wife duo demonstrated contempt for the law, but they could not escape its reach. My office’s partnership with Atlanta’s highly productive Homeland Security Task Force will ensure that these criminals and those who assisted them are held accountable.”
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Rojano-Gonzalez pleaded guilty on March 11, 2026, to possession of a firearm by a prohibited person. Her sentencing is scheduled for June 11, 2026, before Chief U.S. District Judge Leigh Martin May.
Estrada pleaded guilty on May 11, 2026, to perjury and false statements to a federal firearms licensee. His sentencing is set for August 14, 2026, also before Chief Judge May.
Federal officials said Varela-Posas, 30, of Puebla, Mexico, has been charged in separate indictments with illegal reentry, firearms offenses and possession of counterfeit documents.
