4 human smugglers sentenced in South Texas to federal prison
Smugglers facilitated and transported their human cargo from the Rio Grande Valley to Houston
MCALLEN, Texas — Four human smugglers were sentenced Tuesday to federal prison for their roles to conspire and transport and harbor illegal aliens.
This sentenced was announced by U.S. Attorney Kenneth Magidson, Southern District of Texas. This investigation was conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) with the assistance of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) Border Patrol.
U.S. District Judge Randy Crane sentenced all four human smugglers June 14. Judge Crane took into consideration the leadership roles in the human smuggling organization of Jorge Luis Ortiz-Aguilera, 36, of Mexico, and Jose Mario Ledezma-Vega, 47, of Edinburg, Texas. Judge Crane sentenced both Ortiz-Aguilera and Ledezma-Vega to 51-months in federal prison each. The investigation revealed that Ortiz-Aguilera headed the organization, and that Vega coordinated the scouts in the Rio Grande Valley which facilitated transporting the smuggled aliens to the Houston area.
Willie Vargas, 34, of Edinburg, and Anayeli Gonzalez-Trejo, 25, of Mexico, were also sentenced. Judge Crane sentenced Vargas to 17 months, and Gonzalez-Trejo to 12 months and a day in federal prison. The remaining defendant, Juan Covarrubias-Hernandez, 30, of Mexico, will be sentenced at a later date.
In January 2016, Ortiz-Aguilera, Ledezma-Vega and Vargas pleaded guilty to conspiring to transport illegal aliens within the United States; Gonzalez-Trejo pleaded guilty to conspiring to harbor illegal aliens.
According to court documents, from about July through October 2015, Ortiz-Aguilera coordinated transporting smuggled aliens from the Rio Grande Valley in Texas to a location near Houston. During the course of the conspiracy, Ledezma-Vega and Vargas acted as scouts for the vehicles transporting the smuggled aliens, in an attempt to avoid being detected by law enforcement.
In October 2015, working with the same organization, Covarrubias-Hernandez and Gonzalez-Trejo jointly provided food and shelter to a group of aliens at their home in Donna, Texas. The smuggled aliens were subsequently apprehended by U.S. Border Patrol agents as they were being transported farther north.
All four defendants will remain in custody pending transfer to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility to be determined in the near future
Assistant U.S. Attorney Linda Requénez, Southern District of Texas, prosecuted this case.
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