Thread: Water-hoarding smuggler guilty

http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/border/143469

Water-hoarding smuggler guilty
arizona daily star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 08.24.2006
A Mexican man who authorities said denied water to illegal entrants as he led them across the desert was convicted Tuesday on several human-smuggling charges.

Juan Francisco Gutierrez-Osuna, 26, guided 10 illegal entrants from Mexico to the United States from July 13 to July 16, 2005, according to a U.S. Attorney's Office news release.

While the group was in the desert, they ran out of water. Gutierrez-Osuna, who was carrying a backpack full of bottled water, refused to share.

He also gave the entrants ephedrine pills to keep them going, the release said. The pills only further dehydrated the entrants.

When Border Patrol agents found the group, they were severely dehydrated. Gutierrez-Osuna, trying to blend in with the group, told agents he was an illegal entrant.

Agents became suspicious when Gutierrez-Osuna wasn't having difficulty drinking water. They questioned others in the group who said Gutierrez-Osuna was a smuggler.

Gutierrez-Osuna was found guilty of conspiracy to bring in illegal entrants for profit, three counts of bringing in illegal aliens for profit, two counts of transportation of illegal aliens for profit and placing their lives in jeopardy during the transportation, and one count of transportation of an illegal alien for profit and causing serious bod-ly injury to the person during the transportation.

The charges carry a combined maximum penalty of 55 years in prison, a $1 million fine, or both.

These people don't even show compassion to their own. I can just imagine how considerate they'd be to me in a live or die situation.