South Texas man sentenced to more than 4 years in federal prison for alien smuggling

LAREDO, Texas — A South Texas man was sentenced Wednesday following his conviction on alien smuggling.

The U.S. Attorney, Kenneth Magidson, Southern District of Texas, announced this sentence.   This investigation was conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

U.S. District Judge George P. Kazen, sentenced Jose Alfredo Lopez, 34, from Laredo, Sept. 2 to 50 months in federal prison to be followed by three years of supervised release. Lopez pleaded guilty to the charges Oct. 6, 2014.

According to court documents, in June 2014, Lopez picked up three Honduran nationals who had just crossed the Rio Grande River into the United States and offered to help them. Lopez, who already has an extensive criminal history including a prior conviction for alien smuggling, then took the aliens to his apartment where he demanded money before letting them go. When the money was not immediately forthcoming, Lopez told one of the aliens that she had to pay with either money or her body and attempted to sexually assault her several times.

At the sentencing, Lopez admitted he had harbored illegal aliens for profit, but denied the attempted sexual assault. The alien who had been the target of the attempted sexual assault testified about the incidents, with specific details about the various threats he had made towards the aliens.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Sonah Lee, Southern District of Texas, prosecuted this case.