Smuggler Sentenced

Last Update: 11/05 6:42 pm


A smuggler who crashed a vehicle packed with eight undocumented immigrants, seriously injuring a woman trapped in the trunk, was sentenced today to nearly six years in federal prison.

Juan Sandoval-Torres, 30, pleaded guilty July 26 to alien smuggling for financial gain in connection with the May 29 crash.

Sandoval-Torres guided the group of undocumented immigrants from Mexico into the United States and refused to pull over when San Diego County sheriff's deputies tried to make a traffic stop, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Rebekah Young.

The deputies pursued the vehicle for about five miles, but ended the chase for safety reasons. Sandoval-Torres drove on and was eastbound on Skyline Road when he failed to negotiate a turn, authorities said.

The vehicle crashed through a cul-de-sac barrier, into a residential wooden fence and onto a retaining wall, then flipped over and burst into flames.

Each of the immigrants later told officials that they screamed at the driver to stop after he panicked and fled from the deputies, but he ignored their pleas.

Everyone but the unconscious woman in the trunk was able to climb out of the wreckage unaided, despite being injured.

She spent several weeks in the hospital, slipping in and out of consciousness, and suffered permanent injuries.

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