Texas judge sentenced to 18 months in prison for violating gun laws

A former Texas county judge was sentenced on Friday to 18 months in a federal prison for illegally dealing in firearms and making false statements to government agents about the weapons, some of which were smuggled into Mexico, prosecutors said.
Tim Wright, 70, had entered a plea bargain with prosecutors earlier this year and will be placed on supervised release for three years once he completes his prison sentence, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Texas said.
From June 2014, Wright sold more than 60 firearms without a federal firearms license. Dozens of the weapons were sold to two people who were illegally smuggling those guns into Mexico, the office said.
"No one is above the law, especially not judges," Wright had previously said in a statement read to reporters at the federal court in Austin. He was a judge in Williamson County, north of Austin.
Prosecutors said he also falsified federal forms to hide the identity of the buyers and provided false statements to federal agents about the transactions, prosecutors said.
"These are serious crimes for which he has been held accountable," U.S. Attorney Richard Durbin said in a statement.