Woodbridge Men Caught Trying To Smuggle Guns To Central America Sentenced

ALEXANDRIA, VA – Two Woodbridge residents and Honduran nationals were sentenced to prison on Thursday for attempting to smuggle firearms from the United States to Honduras.

Cousins Jesuan Johan Solano Canales, 26, and Elder Adrian Mejia Canales, 29, a Honduran national with permanent resident alien status, pleaded guilty to attempted smuggling in July. Jesuan Canales also pleaded guilty to naturalization fraud, according to a U.S. Department of Justice release.

Jesuan Canales was sentenced to three years and 10 months in prison and his fraudulent naturalization was removed. Elder Canales was sentenced to a year and six months in prison.

According to the statement of facts, the men used a Lorton shipping company that sends packages amassed from numerous individuals to Honduras in shipping containers for their smuggling attempt. In August 2024, the two men used a friend of theirs, Pablo Ricardo Vallejo, 43, to send a sealed box they said contained clothes, shoes and car parts, but that actually contained weapons and ammunition.

When Vallejo dropped off the box for shipping, he presented the shipping company with a fake ID card with a photo that didn't look quite like him. Suspicious, the shippers opened the box before sending it and found several guns, including an AR-15 rifle. They called the Fairfax County police to report their findings.

In April 2025, the shared residence of the Canales cousins on Elk Farm Road in Woodbridge was searched, and investigators found more than two dozen firearms, including an unregistered rifle with a 10.5-inch barrel. The cousins were arrested and charged with attempted smuggling.

Prosecutors charged Jesuan with naturalization fraud, alleging he lied about his criminal activity on two immigration forms. On his May 2024 naturalization application, he denied committing a crime for which he had not been arrested. He also denied engaging in criminal activity on a September 2024 form completed before his citizenship oath ceremony. Prosecutors said Jesuan was already involved in a plot to smuggle weapons out of the United States when he submitted the forms.

Vallejo pleaded guilty in August 2025 to attempted smuggling and immigration document fraud and was sentenced to two years in prison.