Mexican man sentenced for attempted smuggling

Published on Tuesday, August 28, 2007
BISBEE — A Mexican man was sentenced Monday to 1.5 years in prison for attempted human smuggling.

Jose Alberto Chavez-Rojas, 37, of Mazatlan, Sinaloa, is the first person convicted in Cochise County under an Arizona human smuggling law that voters approved in 2005.

A maximum sentence of 2.5 years in prison was stipulated per the plea agreement that was accepted by county Superior Court Judge Charles Irwin.

Chavez-Rojas was arrested in Palominas on May 4 by an Arizona Department of Public Safety officer who stopped him for speeding on Highway 92 near the San Pedro River and found 13 illegal immigrants in his pickup truck.

The man had already become the first person to be held without bond at the Cochise County Jail under a voter-approved law that denies bail to illegal immigrants accused of serious crimes.

http://www.svherald.com/articles/2007/0 ... 551921.txt