AP Texas News

Aug. 30, 2007, 4:44PM
El Paso man sentenced in death of teenage immigrant

© 2007 The Associated Press


EL PASO, Texas — An El Paso man has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for his role in an immigrant smuggling case that left a 14-year-old girl dead.

Alfredo Sifuentes-Sandoval, 45, was sentenced in federal court Thursday. He pleaded guilty in May to conspiracy to smuggle immigrants, encouraging and inducing entry and harboring, both resulting in death.

Sifuentes-Sandoval admitted that from October 2005 to June 2006, he conspired with a woman in Mexico to smuggle illegal immigrants into the United States. One of those immigrants, prosecutors said, was Leybi Lorena Vigil Claros, 14, from El Salvador.

Federal investigators said Leybi died of a blood clot as she was trying to reunite with her mother who had been living legally in Virginia. Sifuentes-Sandoval failed to get Leybi medical help when she became gravely ill, prosecutors said.

Amalia Baquera, a Mexican national, is also charged with conspiracy but remains in Mexico. Federal officials are seeking her extradition to the United States.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/5096563.html