Texas gun nut sold firearms to undercover NYPD cop from prison using white supremacist online group: DA
A Texas gun nut sold firearms to undercover NYPD detectives from behind bars using a white supremacist Telegram channel that Buffalo mass shooter Payton Gendron also belonged to, Manhattan prosecutors said Friday.
Hayden Espinosa, 24, was charged in Manhattan Supreme Court with hawking illegal guns and firearm parts, including silencers and “auto sears” to turn Glock-style handguns or AR-style rifles into fully-automatic weapons, according to the indictment against him.
Espinosa allegedly used a smuggled cellphone to access the Telegram “3D Amendment” channel — a white supremacist message board where he had been a moderator — while serving a 33-month sentence for owning illegal firearms at a federal prison in Louisiana, prosecutors said.
Screenshots from the chat group shows Espinosa promoting hateful, neo-Nazi and anti-government propaganda through the channel, where disturbing memes of Hitler and other hate speech were shared between members, court papers show.
Another member of the group was Gendron, 20, who faces the death penalty after pleading guilty to killing ten people in the racially-motivated Buffalo supermarket shooting in May 2022, prosecutors said.
Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Bonnie Seok told Judge Brandon Lantry that Espinosa sold illegal gun parts — specifically auto sears, silencers and magazines — to authorities on three separate occasions via the channel between August and November 2023.
Espinosa, who had a warrant out for his arrest in Texas for identity theft and credit card fraud, attempted to sell two auto sears to NYPD undercover detectives on Aug. 7, 2023 through the channel, prosecutors said.
He then attempted to sell a Glock MT gun shortly after before selling two firearm silences on November 13, 2023, according to court documents.
Espinosa pleaded not guilty to attempted criminal sale of a firearm in the third degree at his arraignment Friday, where he was remanded into custody as the charges are not bail eligible.
“While incarcerated, Hayden Espinosa allegedly sold guns and gun parts by using contraband electronic devices,” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in a press release. “Furthermore, we alleged Espinosa operated a Telegram channel that is a hub of ethnically and racially motivated extremist ideology.
“The combination of extremism and firearms is incredibly dangerous and threatens the safety of so many New Yorkers,” Bragg said. “A hallmark of our approach to combatting gun violence is partnering with our law enforcement partners, and this case involved cooperation at the local, state and federal level. We will continue to use every tool at our disposal to stop the flow of illegal weapons into our city.”
Prosecutors said Espinosa is expected to be extradited to Texas in August before he would stand trial in the Big Apple.
Espinosa is set to return to court on Sept. 19.
