THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
September 26, 2012 - 2:36 am EDT

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Two Mexican nationals have been sentenced to nearly six months in federal prison for transporting illegal immigrants, while a Texas man has pleaded guilty to similar charges in another case in West Virginia.

U.S. Attorney Booth Goodwin says Miguel Marquez-Jiminez and Sergio Morales-Jimenez were sentenced in federal court in Huntington this week. Both will undergo deportation proceedings.

Goodwin says the pair were stopped in Putnam County while driving 14 illegal immigrants from Houston to New Jersey.

Meanwhile, Goodwin says Jesse James Joslin III of Houston pleaded guilty in federal court in Charleston to helping transport nine illegal immigrants from Houston to Maryland. Joslin and a co-defendant were arrested during a traffic stop in South Charleston.

Joslin faces up to five years in prison. Sentencing is set for Dec. 20.

2 sentenced for transporting illegal immigrants, Texas man pleads guilty in 2nd W.Va. case