Monday, July 2, 2007
Man gets prison for smuggling immigrants
Anaheim resident is said to have organized transports from Mexico
By RACHANEE SRISAVASDI
The Orange County Register
An Anaheim man was sentenced to 37 months in prison Monday for organizing the transportation of dozens of illegal immigrants from Mexico to the United States.

Carlos Carteno-Vasquez, 44, is one of eight defendants charged in an alleged scheme that brought 25 to 99 immigrants to southern California illegally between 2001 and 2005, according to federal prosecutor Anne Gannon and a federal indictment filed in November 2005.

Prosecutors say immigrants would pay the men to be driven into southern California. From here, they would fly across the United States, including to New York and North Carolina. The flights, authorities say, were arranged by the defendants. Gannon would not say how much the smugglers charged for passage, citing the upcoming trial of two alleged drivers.

Carteno-Vasquez, also known as Emilio Mayorales, "managed and directed the disbursement of smuggling fees to the guides, drivers and others who assisted the organization" on both sides of the border, according to the indictment. He pleaded guilty in April in federal court in Santa Ana to a single felony count of conspiring to transport and harbor illegal immigrants. Two other counts, money laundering and aiding and abetting, were dropped. Carteno-Vasquez's attorney could not be reached for comment.

Besides Carteno-Vasquez and the defendants awaiting trial, two other defendants have been sentenced and two are fugitives. Another Orange County man, Mauro Perez, owner of Aero Paris travel agency in Anaheim, pleaded guilty to the conspiracy count in December, and is set to be sentenced Sept. 24.

http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/ho ... 751342.php