Gun runner caught near Cornwall with 59 firearms sentenced to 11 years

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A Quebec man was sentenced to 11 years in prison after he was caught smuggling 59 contraband guns across the St. Lawrence River in a cross-border operation that was busted in 2021, when a concerned Cornwall resident witnessed the “brazen” daytime handoff.

Inti Falero-Delgado pleaded guilty in 2023 to importing illegal firearms — which included 53 handguns and six modified AR-15-style assault rifles with the serial numbers removed — that were purchased in the United States and were headed for the Canadian black market.

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The gun-runners’ handoff on Nov. 26, 2021, was captured by a security camera mounted on a private boathouse on Farlinger Drive in South Glengarry, a riverfront residential street on the outskirts of Cornwall in an area long known as a popular area for smugglers, according to an agreed statement of facts filed in Cornwall court.

A concerned resident alerted police after seeing Falero-Delgado on the private property around 3 p.m. that day, walking through a line of cedar trees to the shoreline, where he was met by a small power boat with an overlarge engine.

Falero-Delgado collected three duffel bags that had been tossed onto shore by two unidentified men onboard before the bootleggers’ boat took off. Falero-Delgado was seen making several trips to load the bags into a car that was waiting for him.

Police with the Integrated RCMP Cornwall Border Integrity Team arrested Falero-Delgado and his driver in a roadside stop a short time later and seized the three duffel bags containing the 59 contraband firearms and 80 prohibited high-capacity magazines.

Falero-Delgado was also caught carrying $4,000 Cdn. and one U.S. $20 bill.

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Postmedia has requested the release of the boathouse video, which was filed as a court exhibit at Falero-Delgado’s sentencing hearing on March 15.

“The sheer number of weapons is staggering,” Ontario Court Justice Deborah Anne Kinsella said in her sentencing decision.

The judge said she could find “no other reported (judicial) decision which involved this many weapons in a single delivery.”

Kinsella said there was evidence of planning and deliberation as Falero-Delgado communicated with “unknown persons” over a period of three months to arrange for delivery of the firearms.

The unidentified contacts referenced payments ranging from $10,000 to $20,000 for the “sticks,” which, the judge noted, is common slang for firearms.

No estimate was provided for the potential street value of the weapons, though, the judge said, “It can safely be assumed that it would be well in excess of the $10,000 to $20,000 it cost to obtain them.”

The driver was initially charged, but denied any knowledge of the gun-running scheme and claimed he was only paid to drive Falero-Delgado from Montreal to Cornwall and back for $600.

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Police seized both men’s cellphones and confirmed the driver had no knowledge of the smuggling operation. The driver was cleared from the investigation.

Both men are from the Montreal area.

Falero-Delgado’s cellphone contained text messages from the unidentified contacts, who provided directions, including the Highway 401 exit, and told him to be there “rite at 3 (sic).”

Falero-Delgado pleaded guilty in May 2023 to eight offences, including the importation of prohibited and restricted firearms, possession of unlawfully imported goods and possession of proceeds of crime less than $5,000.

His defence lawyer, Deepak Paradkar, argued Falero-Delgado “is relatively young and has good future prospects” and asked for a seven-year sentence, highlighting his client’s minimal role as a “courier.”

Crown Attorney Matthew Geigen-Miller told the judge “it would be wrong to overly minimize Mr. Falero-Delgado’s role as being ‘just a courier.’”

The Crown countered with a requested sentence of 18 years and pointed to Valero-Delgado’s lengthy criminal record. He was 25 at the time of the arrest and had 23 prior convictions for charges that included unauthorized use of credit cards, fraud and using forged documents.

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He has served time in provincial jails before, though, the judge noted, this was his first penitentiary sentence.

Falero-Delgado is a Canadian citizen whose family is from Uruguay, and the court heard he faced a challenging upbringing and experienced social isolation as a non-Indigenous person growing up in an Indigenous community in Quebec.

His mother and girlfriend filed letters of support with the court, describing Falero-Delgado as a “positive and caring” member of the community who was “very remorseful” for his actions.

His mother “expressed shock” that her son had been involved in the federal offences, according to the judge’s summary.

“She noted that she was undergoing significant financial stress around this time frame and was at risk to lose her home while also struggling to care for (a) brother, who is autistic. She believes her son acted out of desperation to assist her, something she only learned after the fact.”

The judge cited Falero-Delgado’s early guilty plea as a mitigating factor in his sentence and said she would likely have imposed a sentence of 15-17 years if the matter had proceeded to trial.

“The risk to the community was high in two ways,” Kinsella said. “First, obtaining the weapons in such a public way in a residential area places the community at risk … It was a brazen crime where those involved were seemingly unconcerned about concealing their actions.

“Second, had those weapons made their way into the community at large, there can be little doubt about the harm they would have caused.”

ahelmer@postmedia.com

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