Thread: Man accepts plea; wife wants trial

Man accepts plea; wife wants trial

By ASHLEY RICHARDS, LAREDO MORNING TIMES
09/25/2007

A fourth indicted individual part of a human smuggling ring involving three Texas National Guardsmen pleaded guilty Monday to conspiracy to transport undocumented immigrants.Jerry Zuñiga, 29, agreed to the terms of a plea bargain before U.S. Magistrate Judge Diana Saldaña shortly after his wife, 31-year-old Luisa Pacheco, refused a plea deal and exercised her right to a trial. Saldaña will recommend to the district judge that he accept the plea and sentence Zuñiga.

Pacheco and Zuñiga are the sister and brother-in-law, respectively, of Sgt. Julio Cesar Pacheco, 25, a National Guardsman accused of being the ringleader in the human smuggling operation. Julio Cesar Pacheco, a Laredoan, along with Sgt. Clarence Hodge Jr., 36, of Fort Worth, and Pfc. Jose Rodrigo Torres, 26, of Laredo, pleaded guilty in August to conspiracy to transport.

Luisa Pacheco contends she was a pawn by investigators and Torres in an effort to get the others to admit to their wrongdoing.

"I guess you can say I was the bait to get them," Pacheco said Monday afternoon. "It's a shame how everything works here."

Pacheco said her husband believes that "(Torres) is the one that got busted and he's the one that's going to get the least time," explaining that by talking about the others' involvement, Torres is getting time cut off his sentence.

"That's how the system works. It's a shame," Pacheco said In early August the couple was arrested, almost two months after the three guardsmen were arrested, when investigators found reason to suspect they had been harboring undocumented immigrants at their home in the 4000 block of Totem Pole Lane.

According to evidence read in court Monday as part of the plea agreement, Zuñiga and his wife of 10 years allowed the immigrants to briefly stay at the home before Torres would pick them up in a National Guard-leased van and take them to Cotulla or San Antonio.

Zuñiga was admittedly the "scout" that often led the convoy moving the undocumented immigrants north. He met Torres and sometimes Sgt. Pacheco at the home and would drive ahead of the van carrying undocumented immigrants.

In some instances Sgt. Pacheco would also drive north to follow through with the deals.

According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, Zuñiga and Sgt. Pacheco would, on some occasions, already be at the drop off locations waiting for Torres, who was always the driver, to arrive.

On June 1, the date of one of many transports that occurred between May and June, the U.S. Attorney's Office said Luisa Pacheco was outside talking to the undocumented immigrants when Torres arrived to pick up the load.

Pacheco, however, denies that she had any knowledge of the scheme. She said while her husband, brother, Hodge and Torres were picking up and transporting the immigrants, she was at work.

"I'm a hard-working person for my kids," Pacheco said. "I work. That's what I do. I don't live off anybody's help. I depend on myself."

She and Zuñiga have two children, ages 7 and 2.

Zuñiga said he coordinated the pick-ups so his wife would not find out. He said in court that he "wanted a specific time" so that she would not be home when the illegal activity took place.

Asked by the judge how he got involved in the conspiracy, Zuñiga said he became friends with a friend of his brother-in-law (Sgt. Pacheco) after playing flag football together.

"He had done past things," Zuñiga told Saldaña. "And basically he wanted a chance to (make) some money."

Zuñiga said he was paid a rate similar to that Torres was paid, between $1,000 to $3,000 per trip. The U.S. Attorney's Office examined Zuñiga's bank records and found a bank account in his name in which about $6,600 had been deposited between May 7 and June 4. Some of the deposits were near the dates of the illegal transports.

The case began after Torres was arrested near Cotulla upon being found driving a van carrying more than 20 undocumented immigrants.

After talking to Torres and uncovering a series of text messages, investigators were lead to guardsmen Pacheco and Hodge. The guardsmen were part of Operation Jump Start, a border security initiative.

As part of all four plea agreements thus far, additional charges for transporting undocumented immigrants, or harboring in Zuñiga's case, were dropped. The court is awaiting finalized reports by the probation office before determining a sentence for the four men.

The date for Pacheco's trial was unknown Monday but Saldaña said it should be set sometime this week.

(Ashley Richards may be reached at 728-2538 or by e-mail at ashley@lmtonline.com)

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?news ... 9392&rfi=6

This makes me sick!!! They were caught, how many of these CRIMINALS and their cargo, steal across without being detected, and we are supposed to feel sorry for them!! We are supposed to behave Humanely, letting the Lilliani's and Alvira's have a chance to remain.

Not obeying our laws, has caused the erosion of our Society. Continuing to disobey our Border Laws will ensure the destruction of it.

I would like the military at the border to stop them ALL and interior enforcement to nab the ones who do make it across.