Frank Guereca, a 24-year-old from Olathe, Kansas, was sentenced on April 2 to 97 months in federal prison without parole for stealing firearms from a licensed dealer in Raytown, Missouri, and transporting child pornography into the United States from Mexico.
Guereca’s sentencing comes after he and two others used a stolen U-Haul truck on June 16, 2023, to break into the gun store by ramming the vehicle into the storefront. The group stole 41 firearms during the burglary. Authorities later recovered some of these weapons in California and Mexico. Guereca was arrested at the border on April 25, 2024. Law enforcement seized his cell phone during his attempt to re-enter the United States; investigators found at least 250 images and 70 videos depicting child pornography on the device.
According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection records cited in court documents, Guereca crossed between Mexico and the United States about twenty times following the burglary before being apprehended. Prosecutors said that upon release from prison, Guereca will be required to register as a sex offender under both federal and state laws for life.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Bradley K. Kavanaugh and Alison D. Dunning with investigations led by several agencies including the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; Homeland Security Investigations; and Raytown Police Department.
This prosecution is part of Project Safe Childhood—a nationwide initiative launched by the Department of Justice in May 2006 aimed at combating child sexual exploitation—and Operation Take Back America which targets violent crime linked with illegal immigration and transnational criminal organizations.
The U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Missouri supports community outreach programs addressing violent crime issues according to its official website. The office operates out of Kansas City, Jefferson City, and Springfield according to its official website, is affiliated with the Department of Justice according to its official website, handles federal prosecutions across sixty-six counties according to its official website, covers an area stretching from Iowa’s border southward to Arkansas’s border according to its official website, and collaborates closely with various law enforcement partners according to its official website.
