Thread: WA-Couple Accused Of Smuggling Illegal Aliens, Child Abuse

Auburn-Area Couple Accused Of Smuggling Illegal Aliens, Child Abuse
Police arrested the pair Thursday at their home in Pacific,

4:06 PM PDT, October 9, 2009


Pacific - An Auburn-area man and woman accused of abusing two children are now facing federal charges of smuggling Mexican citizens into Washington state.

The two children are among eight illigal Mexicans the couple allegedly smuggled here.

Maria Bartola Santos-Gonzalez, 63, and her husband, Juan Gonzalez-Guerra, 55 - both free on $50,000 bail in the abuse case - were arrested without incident Thursday at their home in Pacific, a suburb between Seattle and Tacoma, Immigration and CustomsEnforcement spokeswoman Lorie Dankers said.

Santos-Gonzalez and Gonzalez-Guerra are accused of arranging to slip six adults and the two children from Aguascalientes, Mexico, into the U.S. at Calexico, Calif., about 95 miles east of San Diego, for $3,000 to $3,500 each, and of housing the illegal immigrants in their garage in Pacific.

Dankers said the couple came to the United States from Aguascalientes.

In a 23-count indictment issued Wednesday, each was charged with conspiracy to smuggle and harbor aliens and eight counts of harboring an illegal alien dating back to 2006. Santos-Gonzalez also was charged with conspiracy to commit visa fraud, five counts of aiding and abetting visa fraud and eight counts of aiding and abetting human smuggling.

Both listened through a Spanish translator as a public defender was appointed for each at a brief hearing in U.S. District Court.

The two defense lawyers said they had yet to read the 23-count indictment and couldn't comment. The couple remained in custody pending arraignment and detention proceedings Tuesday.

The conspiracy and harboring charges carry a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

In a case filed on July 17 in King County Superior Court in Seattle, both waived their rights as foreign citizens to assistance from consular authorities. Dankers said she could not comment on the couple's citizenship or immigration status.

In the state case, Gonzalez-Guerra is charged with first-degree child molesting involving a girl who is now eight and Santos-Gonzalez with third-degree child assault involving a boy who is now six.

Trial is set for February 11th.

The girl told her mother and then a child counselor at the Regional Justice Center in Kent in June that at some point after they arrived in the country from Mexico and began living inGonzalez-Guerra's garage on July 4, 2007, he began touching her inappropriately.

The mother said that when she told Santos-Gonzalez, the older woman threatened to cut out the little girl's tongue.

The boy said Santos-Gonzalez would tie him up, gag him with tape or a handkerchief and beat him with a stick, on one occasion because he had been playing in the font yard and angered her by throwing water, Churchel wrote in a separate probable-cause statement for charges against Santos-Gonzalez.

http://www.q13fox.com/news/kcpq-100909- ... 6317.story

These two deserve more than the MAX!