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Smuggling group member sentenced in Arizona

05:10 PM Mountain Standard Time on Friday, January 19, 2007

By The Associated Press

PHOENIX (AP) -- A member of an immigrant smuggling group that physically abused its customers has been sentenced to 19 years in prison.

A federal judge in Phoenix sentenced 21-year-old Fabian Franco-Saenz of Mazatlan after he plead guilty in 2004 to conspiracy to take hostages and conspiracy to harbor illegal immigrants.

Prosecutors say Franco-Saenz raped a female victim at gunpoint during the hostage-taking in 2003.

He was later sentenced to 14 years in prison on an attempted sexual assault conviction in Maricopa County.

The federal and state sentences will be served at the same time.

Authorities say the smugglers held customers at gunpoint and physically abused them.

One victim was burned on the face with a cigarette. None of the victims died.