Thread: Duo sentenced in North County immigrant smuggling case

Duo sentenced in North County immigrant smuggling case

By: SCOTT MARSHALL - Staff Writer

SAN DIEGO -- Two women were sentenced in federal court this week for their roles in a North County-based smuggling operation that transported illegal immigrants to locations throughout Southern California and elsewhere and amassed amounts of cash that were among the largest totals that officials said they have seen in such cases.

The operation to smuggle illegal immigrants was relatively small but was significant because of its financial assets, said Dane Bowen, assistant special agent in charge of a human trafficking unit of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.

U.S. District Court Judge Barry Ted Moskowitz said the more than $400,000 in cash that the U.S. government seized in the case was "staggering" and "extraordinary" and made it one of the larger immigrant smuggling cases he has seen in 21 years on the bench, federal prosecutors said in a news release issued Wednesday.

The $400,000 represents 20 percent of the $2 million in cash and property that federal officials said they have seized locally in illegal immigrant smuggling cases in the last two years.

Luisa Gonzalez-Pizarro, 48, of Oceanside, pleaded guilty Monday to charges of money laundering and filing a false tax return. She was sentenced immediately to 21 months in prison, federal prosecutors said. With credit for time she already has served since her arrest last year and for good behavior, she probably will serve about 2 1/2 months more before being released, her attorney said.

Valerie Northcutt, 29, of Yuma, Ariz., pleaded guilty last year to a conspiracy charge. In large part because of her cooperation with federal investigators, she was sentenced Wednesday to four months in custody, with credit for about 60 days already served. The rest of her sentence likely will be served on home confinement so she can continue to work, Assistant U.S. Attorney Carlos Arguello said.

Court records showed Gonzalez-Pizarro's husband, Ricardo Roberto Gonzalez-Camacena, 37, of Oceanside, pleaded guilty Aug. 30 to conspiracy to transport illegal immigrants and filing a false tax return. He is scheduled to be sentenced in November, court records stated.

Arguello said Gonzalez-Camacena was the leader of the group. The judge described Gonzalez-Pizarro as more of a "secretary" or "bookkeeper," Arguello said.

Gonzalez-Pizarro's attorney, Michael McCabe, said Wednesday that Gonzalez-Pizarro had a "minor role" in the operation.

Gonzalez-Camacena's attorney, Philip DeMassa, and Northcutt's attorney, John F. Kelly, could not be reached Wednesday for comment.

The U.S. attorney's office said in a news release that Gonzalez-Pizarro admitted that she and her husband were paid for arranging the transportation of 89 illegal immigrants to destinations in Southern California. A federal grand jury indictment alleged that the destinations included unspecified locations in the cities of Escondido and Vista.

The allegations in the indictment included that Gonzalez-Camacena and Northcutt separately transported illegal immigrants on specific dates between May 25, 2002, and February 2004, and that the conspiracy continued through May 16, 2006.

Bowen, of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said the success of border checkpoints, fences and other efforts to curb illegal immigration have resulted in people paying more to smugglers now than they have in the past. While some people may have been able to cross into the United States on their own or paid someone $250 to smuggle them in the past, those trying to enter the country illegally today pay smugglers an average of $2,500 per person, Bowen said.

"There have been more people going into the smuggling business because it's more profitable now," Bowen said.

Smuggling operations are prevalent locally because San Diego is in the "middle of a smuggling corridor," and North County tends to be more of a staging area for illegal immigrants on their way to Los Angeles or other areas of the country, Bowen said.


wen also said that smuggling operations range in size from small, "family type" organizations to large, complex conspiracies that are as well organized as drug smuggling operations.

Local authorities have to prioritize cases because there are so many. Operations that have anything to do with terrorism are the highest priority. The second highest goes to smuggling operations that endanger the lives of the people being smuggled, law enforcement officers and the community at large, Bowen said.

Contact staff writer Scott Marshall at (760) 631-6623 or smarshall@nctimes.com

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2007/09 ... _12_07.txt

Wouldn't you just know it? These people got a slap on the wrist for their crimes and were sent on their merry way to commit more crimes. This is just too much. Will this madness ever end? It is so so obvious that these people are being treated better than American Citizens. And,we are the ones who pay their salaries. This is just too much to take. Since we have no representation, then there should be no taxation. Why should we pay taxes when it is only benefitting illegals and crooked judges and a lame duck president. Oh by the way, he is more of a Lame Brain than he is a lame duck. He is Calderone's and Mexico's lame puppet!