Former Mexican fugitive gets 3 life sentences for alien smuggling, kidnapping that resulted in 3 deaths

VICTORIA, Texas — A former Mexican fugitive illegally residing in Houston was sentenced Monday to three life terms in federal prison for an alien smuggling conspiracy and kidnapping that resulted in three deaths; one of the life sentences was ordered to run consecutively with two other life terms.

U.S. Attorney Kenneth Magidson, Southern District of Texas, and Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell, from the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, announced this sentence. This investigation was conducted by the following agencies: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) Border Patrol; Houston (Texas) Police Department, Harris County (Texas) Sheriff’s Office, and the U.S. Marshals Service.

Noe Aranda-Soto, aka Diablo, 36, of San Carlos, Michoacan, Mexico, pleaded guilty May 31 to the following charges:  kidnapping resulting in death, using a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence resulting in death, and conspiracy to transport aliens for private financial gain resulting in death.

On Sept. 12, U.S. District Judge John D. Rainey ordered that Aranda-Soto spend the rest of his life in federal prison. More than 20 victims and family members of victims traveled from Mexico and from all over the United States to attend the sentencing.  An 18-year-old son of a deceased female victim described the impact of the crime on his family. The woman's father also addressed Aranda-Soto and said, "I pray God forgives you, because we never will."

Fourteen victims addressed the court, most of whom had sustained some type of permanent injuries as a result of the defendant’s criminal conduct.  Additionally, family members from two of the three victims who were killed as a result of the offenses also gave emotional testimony describing the impact of the loss of their family member on their family.

Another victim, who was shot three times but survived after jumping out of moving vehicle, was the only eyewitness to one of the brutal crimes and she provided powerful testimony.  She testified that she and the other woman were making plans to escape from the defendant the day he forced them into a car at gunpoint. She told the court that the woman's last words were "tell my children I love them with all of my heart.”

After all the victims spoke, Judge Rainey asked the defendant if he wished to make a statement. Aranda-Soto did not apologize or make any comments to the court or to the victims.

In his plea agreement, Aranda-Soto admitted that from 2010 until his arrest in 2012, he led an alien-smuggling and hostage-taking organization that transported aliens from areas near South Texas checkpoints to local stash houses in Houston and to points north. On Aug. 1, 2010, his brother was driving a vehicle loaded with illegal aliens when it rolled over near Victoria. One victim died as a result of the accident; another victim was left behind in the brush and died of exposure and dehydration. A third victim was in a coma for nearly a year and now suffers from permanent injuries, according to the plea.

Law enforcement stopped Aranda-Soto a few days later, but he fled. Aranda-Soto admitted he returned to Houston in 2012 and began to hold aliens hostage in Houston-area stash houses. According to admissions made in connection with his guilty plea, Aranda-Soto planned to escape from Houston with two female employees after law enforcement rescued a group of aliens being held hostage and arrested several of Aranda-Soto’s employees in October 2012.

According to the plea agreement, while on Interstate 10 near Katy, Texas, Aranda-Soto became agitated and shot both the driver and the other female passenger multiple times. The injured driver jumped from the moving car and survived. Aranda-Soto then purposefully drove the car erratically, causing the other woman to be ejected from the moving vehicle onto the highway where she was subsequently run over by multiple other vehicles and killed, according to admissions in the plea agreement.

Law enforcement arrested Aranda-Soto a week later at yet another stash house, which was full of illegal aliens whom Aranda-Soto and his co-conspirators were holding hostage.

With Aranda-Soto’s guilty plea, all of those charged in relation to the 2010 and 2012 criminal activity have now been convicted.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Patti Hubert Booth and Casey N. MacDonald, Southern District of Texas, prosecuted this case, along with Trial Attorney Jeffrey Zick of the Criminal Division’s Capital Case Section.