Thread: Human smuggler sentenced in LA to 20-year term

Human smuggler sentenced in LA to 20-year term
Associated Press
Posted: Monday, August 15, 2011 7:29 pm
North County Times

An illegal immigrant from Guatemala was sentenced Monday to 20 years in federal prison for directing a human smuggling operation in which men and women were held captive, starved and physically assaulted until their relatives paid thousands of dollars.

Pedro Marcos-Marcos, 29, had faced up to life in prison for after pleading guilty in October to five felony counts. Defense attorney Ivan Klein sought a 10-year sentence, telling U.S. District Judge that the defendant grew up in "primitive circumstances" in Guatemala.

The judge said Marcos-Marcos showed a callous disregard for the victims in the case, but that a life sentence was excessive for the crimes committed. He also ordered Marcos-Marcos to serve five years of probation.

Prosecutors said Marcos-Marcos ordered the brutal treatment of a Salvadoran who was rescued in 2009 after being attacked with a cattle prod and kept in a Lancaster drop house without clothes or blankets. The victim told investigators that his captors beat him repeatedly and starved him for days until they could collect $6,000 in smuggling fees.

A police report said Marcos-Marcos also ran another drop house in San Bernardino where several people were held against their will, including a woman who was raped when relatives didn't pay her smuggling fee.

He was convicted in 2004 of harboring illegal aliens in a case brought by federal authorities in Arizona.

Read more: http://www.nctimes.com/news/state-and-r ... z1VDH8zWds

Related: http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-247151.html