A former Hillsborough County high school teacher was sentenced Friday to one year and one day in federal prison for conspiring to provide firearms to a Trinidad-based transnational criminal organization, U.S. authorities said.

Shannon Nicole Samlalsingh, 47, of Temple Terrace, pleaded guilty on June 20, 2025, to making false statements to a firearms dealer. U.S. District Judge William F. Jung also ordered her to forfeit the firearms purchased as part of the scheme, U.S. Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe announced.

Court documents show Samlalsingh bought seven firearms, falsely stating on Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives forms that the weapons were for her personal use. Instead, she gave the firearms to members of the criminal organization, who smuggled them into Trinidad.

On April 21, 2022, authorities in Trinidad seized a shipment at Piarco International Airport containing firearms hidden inside punching bags. The seizure included approximately 11 9mm pistols, two .38-caliber revolvers, a 12-gauge semi-automatic shotgun, multiple AR-15 parts and magazines, and hundreds of rounds of ammunition.

Samlalsingh had purchased four of the seized firearms.

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