Thread: CA: Woman Smuggles and Threatens Illegal Immigrants

Woman Smuggles and Threatens Illegal Immigrants

Last Update: 1/17 7:34 pm

A woman who was part of a smuggling ring that smuggled Mexican nationals into the United States, then forced them into work as laborers with threats of arrest, pleaded guilty Thursday to federal charges.

Gloria Eugenia Leon-Aldana is scheduled to be sentenced April 7 by U.S. District Judge M. James Lorenz.

She pleaded guilty to three counts of bringing in illegal aliens for financial gain and a count of forced labor.

"The compulsion of another's labor in our jurisdiction is a serious crime that our office will continue to prosecute, no matter the legal status of the victim," said U.S. Attorney Karen Hewitt.

Two of her co-defendants, Juan Andres-Santos and Agustin Alonso-Terrero, also pleaded guilty last week to bringing in illegal aliens for financial gain.

Another defendant, Mario Antonio Antunez-Sotelo, remains a fugitive, prosecutors said.

According to a superseding indictment, the illegal aliens were smuggled into the U.S. after Antunez-Sotelo recruited them in Mexico, and were harbored in America by Leon-Aldana and Antunez-Sotelo.

As part of her plea, Leon-Aldana admitted that she forced a particular alien to work for free by threatening to contact Border Patrol to arrest him if he did not do as she instructed.

Antunez-Sotelo also threatened aliens with physical harm to themselves or their families, according to the indictment.

www.fox6.com

Gloria Eugenia Leon-Aldana

I wonder what her immigration status is? Or is she one of them who got their amnesty in 1986?