Federal Prison Sentences Handed Down In El Paso Alien Smuggling Case

This morning, 63-year-old El Paso commercial truck driver Rogelio Munoz Chavarria was sentenced to four months in federal prison followed by two years of supervised release and fined $2,000 for his role in an undocumented alien smuggling scheme announced United States Attorney Robert Pitman and Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent In Charge Dennis Ulrich.

Chavarria’s sentencing comes one day after U.S. District Judge Philip R. Martinez sentenced co-defendant and ringleader Refugio Aide Diaz Martinez, a 45-year-old Mexican National who had been residing illegally in the Dallas area, to six years in federal prison and ordered her to pay a $12,500 fine.  In February, Diaz’s husband and co-ringleader, 46-year-old Robert “Beto” Perez, Jr. of Dallas, was sentenced to eight years in federal prison and fined $15,000 for his role in the scheme.  All three had previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to smuggle undocumented aliens for financial gain. 

According to court records, since September 2008, Diaz, Perez, Chavarria and 12 other convicted individuals were involved in an alien smuggling ring based in Dallas, Texas.  This organization was responsible for the smuggling, transporting and harboring of more than 150 undocumented aliens, including at least 18 minors, through the El Paso/Juarez corridor.  Sentences handed down thus far in this case range from probation to eight years in federal prison.

Two other commercial truck drivers--51-year-old Lazaro Echeverria of Miami Gardens, FL, and 46-year-old Cesar Delgadillo of Hesperia, CA—are scheduled for sentencing on April 23, 2014, and May 14, 2014, respectively.  Each faces up to ten years in federal prison for conspiring to smuggle undocumented aliens for financial gain.

This investigation was conducted by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). Assistant United States Attorney Patricia Aguayo is prosecuting this case on behalf of the Government.