Truck driver sentenced for deadly smuggling attempt

LAREDO, Texas – A 28-year-old San Antonio man is now headed to federal prison for knowingly conspiring to transport an undocumented alien resulting in death, announced U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Patrick.

Andres Jonathan Yeverino pleaded guilty March 3.  

Today, U.S. District Judge Marina Garcia Marmolejo ordered him to serve a 48-month sentence to be immediately followed by four years of supervised release.

On Oct. 21, 2019, law enforcement stopped a pickup truck in Webb County just north of Laredo. Yeverino was driving. Authorities conducted a search and discovered several people hidden underneath a blanket in the backseat and in the bed of the truck. All were determined to be aliens illegally present in the United States.

One of the individuals in the backseat ran from the vehicle onto Interstate Highway 35. Soon after, a passing vehicle struck and killed him.  

Yeverino has been and will remain in custody pending transfer to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility to be determined in the near future.

Immigration and Custom Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations conducted the investigation with the assistance of Border Patrol. Assistant U.S. Attorney April Ayers-Perez prosecuted the case.