A Texas gun enthusiast used a white supremacist Telegram channel, which also included Buffalo mass shooter Payton Gendron, to sell firearms from prison to undercover New York Police Department investigators, Manhattan prosecutors said Friday.
Hayden Espinosa, 24, was indicted in Manhattan Supreme Court on charges of trafficking illegal firearms and firearm parts, including silencers and “auto-sears” used to turn Glock handguns and AR-style rifles into fully automatic weapons, according to the indictment.
According to prosecutors, Espinosa is accused of using a smuggled cellphone to access the Telegram “3D Amendment” channel, a white supremacist message board where he moderated, while serving a 33-month sentence in a federal prison in Louisiana for illegal firearm possession.
Screenshots of the chat group show that Espinosa promoted hateful neo-Nazi and anti-government propaganda through the channel, with offensive Hitler memes and other hate speech shared among members, court documents show.
Another member of the group, Gendron, 20, faces the death penalty after pleading guilty to killing 10 people in a racially motivated Buffalo supermarket shooting in May 2022, prosecutors said.
Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Bonnie Sok told Judge Brandon Lantry that Espinosa sold illegal gun parts, specifically auto sears, silencers and magazines, to authorities on three occasions between August and November 2023.
According to prosecutors, Espinosa, who had an outstanding arrest warrant in Texas on charges of identity theft and credit card fraud, attempted to sell two Sears vehicles to an undercover New York Police Department officer through this route on Aug. 7, 2023.
He attempted to sell a Glock MT gun shortly thereafter, and then sold two silenced guns on Nov. 13, 2023, according to court documents.
Espinosa pleaded not guilty at Friday’s hearing to a third-degree charge of attempted unlawful sale of a firearm, but was held in custody because that charge is not eligible for bail.
Prosecutors said Espinosa will be extradited to Texas in August before facing trial in New York.
Espinosa is due back in court on Sept. 19.
