Man gets prison in illegal alien case
The man, himself an illegal immigrant, got 21 months for transporting 11 people
By Mike Gangloff
981-3336

Smuggling illegal immigrants up Interstate 81 brought a Guatemalan man 21 months in federal prison Monday.

Pedro Antonio Antonio Mateo, described by his attorney as a 21-year-old landscaper trying to make extra money by ferrying a passengers across the country in a sport utility vehicle, drew the maximum recommended prison term.

"Such a sentence will foster a respect for the law," U.S. District Court Judge Glen Conrad said. He noted that Antonio Mateo was himself in the country illegally, having apparently sneaked back into the United States after an earlier arrest for people smuggling.

Antonio Mateo pleaded guilty in May to transporting illegal aliens. The plea came just weeks after he was stopped on I-81 in Botetourt County with 11 passengers. One man ran into the woods and escaped as Virginia State Police emptied the GMC Suburban that Antonio Mateo was driving. The other 10 turned out to be in the country illegally from Mexico and Guatemala.

Passengers told investigators they'd traveled from Arizona and were headed to New Jersey and to other stops around the country. They complained that Antonio Mateo had not let them leave the vehicle and that without bathroom stops, they'd had to use plastic jugs in the vehicle.

In U.S. District Court in Roanoke on Monday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennie Waering pointed to the harshness of the trip and safety issues that included an insufficient number of seat belts and three juvenile passengers who were not traveling with their parents. She argued for a penalty at the upper end of the 15- to 21-month range recommended by sentencing guidelines.

Waering also said Antonio Mateo was arrested in 2005 in another people-smuggling case in California, but was allowed to leave the country rather than face prosecution.

Antonio Mateo replied that the 2005 incident did not involve smuggling. Speaking Spanish with a court interpreter translating, he said he had just been driving co-workers through Los Angeles, where his family lives.

Antonio Mateo's attorney, Allegra Black of the federal public defender's office, said Antonio Mateo helped support a large extended family by doing landscaping work.

He had agreed to drive the illegal immigrants to make extra money but never received payment, Black said.

"He was essentially a taxi driver. ... He was a cog in the machine rather than any kind of major player," she said.

Conrad said he would not impose the fine suggested by federal guidelines but would sentence Antonio Mateo to 21 months in prison and two years of supervised release.

Antonio Mateo may be deported at the end of his prison sentence, which would essentially prevent supervision, Conrad said.

But the judge warned that another illegal return during those two years could trigger a return to court and another prison sentence.

Several of Antonio Mateo's relatives, including two small children, had driven from Los Angeles for the hearing. There were tearful hugs, then Antonio Mateo waved his cuffed hands and was led away.
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