Houston & Texas News



Feb. 7, 2008, 10:01PM
6 illegal immigrants receive prison for smuggling scheme
They may face deportation for hiding dozens of people in home


By CINDY GEORGE
Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle

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Six illegal immigrants are headed to federal prison and face possible deportation for hiding 61 people smuggled to Houston.

The men, five from Mexico and one from Honduras, were sentenced this week to terms ranging from one year to more than a decade.

Last spring, they were arrested and pleaded guilty to conspiracy to transport and harbor illegal immigrants. The smuggling scheme brought dozens of illegal immigrants to a one-story home in southeast Houston. They were found packed inside the stash house waiting for relatives or friends to pay fees for their release.


Van tours business used
The immigrants were discovered after an undocumented man who had been released to collect $6,000 in smuggling fees to free himself and his wife flagged down a Houston police officer. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement took the occupants, including several children, into custody.

The Mexican nationals who were sentenced are 37-year-old Juan Carlos Perales-Solis, 40-year-old Jose Garcia-Garcia, 21-year-old Luis Alberto Lara-Gutierrez, 27-year-old David Palomera-Romero and Felipe Muniz-DeLaMora, 33. Nelson Sergio Aguinaga-Aleman, 19, is from Honduras.

According to the indictment, Muniz-DeLaMora held a dozen illegal immigrants at National Super Express Van Tours in Houston. The other five men harbored about 50 people at the drop house nearby.

All five men were indicted last April on five charges. Four counts, dropped under plea deals, represented four of the undocumented individuals held for ransom.

Garcia-Garcia received the 10-year maximum sentence, plus another 18 months for violating the terms of his supervised release as part of an earlier immigrant-smuggling conviction.

Perales-Solis was sentenced to 6 1/2 years; Lara-Gutierrez got 5 years; Palomera-Romero received 2 1/2 years and Muniz-DeLaMora received 1 1/2 years. U.S District Judge Keith Ellison handed down a yearlong sentence to Aguinaga-Aleman, who will spend one month in prison because he received credit for the 11 months he has served.

cindy.george@chron.com


http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/met ... 23943.html