Undercover sting in Florida Keys turns up illegal guns, sheriff’s office says

Florida Keys deputies arrested four people following an undercover gun buy that’s part of an ongoing investigation into illegal firearm sales in the island chain, according to the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office.

Three of the people, a 17-year-old, who the Miami Herald is not naming because of his age, 19-year-old Mikele Rocafort Carciani, and Andrew Jonathan Pena, 22, were arrested when undercover detectives met them in a Marathon parking lot after setting up the purchase of two guns for $1,200, according to the sheriff’s office.

They arrived in a white Dodge Charger, said sheriff’s office spokesman Adam Linhardt, and Gonzalez was in the front seat with a 9 mm pistol and a loaded 12-gauge shotgun on his lap.

Cops searched him and also found a magazine loaded with 9 mm bullets and a 6-inch knife, Linhardt said.

Police later searched Pena’s home where they found a semiautomatic rife and ammunition, Linhardt said.

The teen remains in Juvenile Justice custody on charges of dealing in stolen property, selling a firearm with an altered or removed serial number, illegal open carry of weapons and conspiracy.

Carciani and Pena are in county jail held on bonds of $35,000 each on charges of conspiracy and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Information about their legal representation was not immediately available.

Another man, 19-year-old Martin Luther Kilbourne, who was not at the gun buy, was arrested later in the day after the sheriff’s office said he went to the Marathon substation and threatened deputies.

Linhardt said Kilbourne arrived at the back of the building with two other men and asked about the gun arrests. Deputies ordered the three to leave, which the other two did, Linhardt said. But Kilbourne stayed and told a detective to remove his badge and gun and challenged him to a fight, Linhardt said.

Deputies arrested him, but in the scuffle, Kilbourne broke one of their body-worn cameras. Once in jail, deputies said Kilbourne exclaimed, “I’ll shoot them all,” according to Linhardt.

On Friday, he was being held on a $40,000 bond on charges of making threats to law enforcement, resisting arrest and breaking law enforcement equipment.

The sheriff’s office said the investigation is ongoing and there could be more arrests.

“Thank you to the men and women of the Sheriff’s Office who worked quickly to get these illegal weapons off our streets,” Sheriff Rick Ramsay said in a statement. “I will not tolerate threats directed at my staff and those who make such threats will be arrested.”