Mexican national gets nearly five years in prison for human smuggling that left man dead in Kleberg County

By Katherine Rosenberg
Posted December 20, 2012 at 6:37 p.m., updated December 20, 2012 at 6:38 p.m.
caller.com

CORPUS CHRISTI — A man received a nearly five-year sentence for his conviction on human smuggling, which led to the death of a 40-year-old man.

Modesto Aguilar-Hernandez, 20, a Mexican national, was convicted of smuggling and entered a guilty plea Sept. 20. He was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Nelva Gonzalez Ramos to federal prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release.

Aguilar-Hernandez in an earlier hearing admitted that on May 22 he was taking 13 undocumented immigrants to Houston in a pickup, officials said. Aguilar-Hernandez was driving through Kleberg County when a sheriff’s deputy attempted a traffic stop. Aguilar-Hernandez led the deputy on a high-speed chase that ended with Aguilar driving the truck into a field, through several barbed-wire fences.

The man who died was found in the bed of the truck. Officials believe that one of the strands of wire severed his leg. When Aguilar-Hernandez eventually stopped the vehicle, almost all the occupants fled, but the victim and his son remained in the truck, where the man died of blood loss.

Aguilar-Hernandez has been in custody since his arrest and will be transferred to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility to be determined.

Mexican national gets nearly five years in prison for human smuggling that left man dead in Kleberg County » Corpus Christi Caller-Times