10 years in prison for man caught at MSP airport with 3 guns, ammo and meth in his luggage

He was about to get on a Delta Air Lines flight from the Twin Cities airport to Phoenix.

August 8, 2022 at 12:09PM
Kevin A. Aguilar-Moreno (Anoka County jail/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

A 21-year-old man has received a 10-year sentence for having three guns, hundreds of rounds of ammunition and a large amount of methamphetamine in his luggage as he waited to board a flight at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport last fall.

Kevin A. Aguilar-Moreno was sentenced in U.S. District Court in St. Paul last week after pleading guilty to intent to distribute methamphetamine in connection with his capture at the airport on Oct. 29 as he was about to get on a Delta Air Lines flight from the Twin Cities airport to Phoenix.

But Transportation Security Administration screeners found that his two pieces of luggage contained more than two pounds of methamphetamine, two pistols and an AR-15 type rifle with no serial number. Included in the ammunition were 39 rounds that were considered armor-piercing.

Law enforcement also determined that the rifle was homemade. Such ghost guns, as they are commonly called, have no serial numbers, making them difficult to track.

In arguing for the 10-year term ahead of sentencing, prosecutors said Aguilar-Moreno had 326 rounds of ammunition with him and two-thirds of an ounce of cocaine, along with the meth. He said he obtained the drugs from someone in Red Wing and intended to sell them in Phoenix.

When arrested, the prosecution continued, he possessed two Mexican passports — one valid and one expired — and admitted to law enforcement that he was in the United States illegally.

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Paul Walsh

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Paul Walsh is a general assignment reporter at the Star Tribune. He wants your news tips, especially in and near Minnesota.

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