A Venezuelan man accused of having ties to the notorious Tren de Aragua gang was sentenced to five years in prison this week after pleading guilty to state gunrunning charges coming from an undercover federal investigation, according to court documents. Yefferson Camacho Cedeno, 28, pled guilty Wednesday, roughly a year after being detained in an undercover operation by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF).
The investigation began in the spring of 2025, when an informant for the ATF began working on a gun purchase with a man. They eventually decided to meet at the 4900 block of South Wood Street in June 2025 to finalize the sale of three weapons.
During the secretly recorded conference, the man summoned his “associates” and instructed them to speed up. According to prosecutors, Camacho Cedeno arrived in a vehicle carrying a plastic bag containing a pistol box. He gave an undercover agent a 9mm weapon for $1,100 and then sold a.380 pistol for $740 after the agent negotiated the price down from $750, according to authorities. The pair then sold another 9mm pistol for $760 and numerous rounds of loose ammunition for $40. According to officials, the agent negotiated a lower price for the ammo than the original $100.
Prosecutors claimed Camacho Cedeno is a Venezuelan national who is “not a legal resident of the United States.”
Judge Thomas Byrne sentenced him to five years in jail and ordered him to serve 75 percent of his sentence. Camacho Cedeno has about 2 years and 7 months to serve based on credits earned while in the Cook County Jail.
According to investigators, the case was part of a larger federal investigation into suspected members and affiliates of the Venezuela-based Tren de Aragua gang. Camacho Cedeno is the second of the five charged to enter a guilty plea.
Last month, CWBChicago reported that Jose Vasquez Hernandez, a “associate” of Camacho Cedeno, was sentenced to 18 months in jail after pleading guilty to a state firearms offense. However, due to his time in jail and a usual 50% sentence reduction, Vasquez Hernandez was released by the Illinois Department of Corrections on the same day he was taken into custody.
The investigation into Vasquez Hernandez began in the spring of 2025, when an ATF informant orchestrated a gun purchase between 16th Street and Homan Avenue, according to prosecutors. Vasquez Hernandez walked up and introduced himself as the other gun dealer’s “associate,” according to prosecutors. He allegedly said to the undercover agents and informant in Spanish, “I’m the other supplier, the one who gets these things.”
According to prosecutors, Vasquez Hernandez then took the group to a garage, pulled out a red bag, and reiterated, “I’m the one who gets this,” before displaying a 5.56-caliber and a 7.62-caliber rifle. He allegedly offered to sell the guns for $3,800.
Prosecutors also claimed that Vasquez Hernandez discussed selling “Tusi,” a synthetic drug mixture also known as “pink cocaine,” and indicated he could supply it. However, no drug transactions occurred, and Vasquez Hernandez was never charged with a narcotics felony.
When Cook County Judge Luciano Panici Jr. ordered Vasquez Hernandez’s detention last summer, he cited allegations that he was a “member of a transnational criminal organization” as one basis for keeping him in custody. Prosecutors also claimed he was a Venezuelan national and “not a legal resident of the United States.”
Vasquez Hernandez’s independence after being released from prison was brief. Not shortly after CWB Chicago reported that he had been released from detention, federal officials arrested him on Chicago’s streets and initiated deportation proceedings. A federal law enforcement agent told CWB Chicago at the time that the county and state had not informed authorities that Vasquez Hernandez was set to be freed.
“He seems like the sort of person the government would like to have removed from the community,” the agent replied. “Why make it difficult to remove someone everyone agrees should not be in our neighborhoods?”
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