Final smuggler responsible for an overcrowded Houston stash house that held 115 smuggled aliens was sentenced to more than 10 years in prison
HOUSTON — The last man of the six who were arrested in connection with the March 2014 discovery of more than 100 illegal aliens crammed into a local smuggling stash house was sentenced Friday to more than 10 years in federal prison.
This sentence 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 Houston Police Department.
Benjamin Granados-Lupian, 32, from Mexico, pleaded guilty to smuggling charges about one month after his arrest. He was convicted of conspiracy to harbor and transport illegal aliens and using a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence. The following five co-conspirators were convicted of the same charges: Jose Aviles-Villa, 32, Antonio Barruquet-Hildeberta, 46, Jonathan Solorzano-Tavila, 30, Jose Cesmas-Borja, 26, and Eugenio Sesmas-Borja, 20. All six smugglers are from Michoacan, Mexico.
U.S. District Judge Melinda Harmon sentenced Granados-Lupian to 63 months in federal prison for the conspiracy conviction. Granados-Lupian also received a consecutive 60-month sentence for using a firearm, which resulted in a total sentence of 123 months of federal imprisonment. Aviles-Villa, Barruquet-Hildeberta, Solorzano-Tavila, Sesmas-Borja and Cesmas-Borja were previously sentenced by U.S. District Judge Lee Rosenthal to prison terms between 111 and 123 months. As illegal aliens, they all face deportation after they are released from prison.
"These men, who supported alien smuggling and alien harboring, placed their personal profit ahead of public safety and U.S. border security," said Brian M. Moskowitz, special agent in charge of HSI Houston. "The resulting lengthy prison sentences should act as a warning to others who are involved in this dangerous trade of the severe consequences of their actions."
The Houston smuggling stash house was discovered March 19, 2014 on Almeda School Road with 115 illegal aliens inside.
The convicted smugglers admitted they obtained substantial profits from this conspiracy. They had established networks that brought the aliens into the U.S. illegally across the Southwest border. The smuggled aliens were then held in stash houses while the smugglers arranged payment of remaining smuggling fees from their families.
While in the stash house, the conspirators seized the smuggled aliens’ clothes, shoes, phones and other possessions. The conspirators used guns, paddles, tasers and other equipment to control and prevent the 115 smuggled aliens from escaping from the 2,000 sq. ft. stash house. The smugglers also guarded the aliens with guns displayed in plain view and threatened to kill them by shooting them in the back of the head if they tried to escape.
In one specific instance, the conspirators contacted the mother of one of the stashed aliens and told her to pay an additional $13,000 for her adult daughter and her two children. She was advised that if she did not pay, they would “make her family disappear and make her family pay.”
Granados-Lupian 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 (AUSA) Julie Searle and Special AUSA Rick Bennett, Southern District of Texas, prosecuted this case.
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