A McAllen businessman convicted of arranging for others to purchase assault rifles for him from gun stores has been sentenced to a 10-year prison term.
A federal judge handed down the sentence to 48-year-old Manuel Tijerina-Herrera on Thursday. He will also have three years of supervised release. Tijerina-Herrera paid at least five other people to buy guns. So-called “straw purchases” are commonly used to get weapons to Mexico’s violent drug cartels.