Smuggler of immigrant kids sentenced to 18 months



By ROXANA HEGEMAN

2010-03-25 07:48 AM



A smuggler convicted of transporting a dozen illegal immigrants was sentenced to 18 months in prison for trafficking in a case in which agents found an unaccompanied 2-year-old girl in soiled clothes and an unchanged diaper who had been fed only Gatorade during the trip.
U.S. District Judge Eric Melgren handed down the more lenient prison term for Santos Tomas Ochoa-Bello on Wednesday under the terms of a plea deal. The 29-year-old Mexican national was also sentenced to three years of probation after his release.

Defense attorney John Henderson said after the hearing that his client was upset when he found out during the trip that the toddler did not have an adult traveling with her.

"He realized as the trip continued there were no relatives for her there _ that is when he started to make some calls to find out what was going on," Henderson said.

Henderson said his client had no criminal history, adding they were satisfied with his sentence. Ochoa-Bello made no courtroom statement and showed no emotion at the sentencing.

Under the plea agreement, prosecutors dropped a second count for illegal re-entry after deportation.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Brent Anderson declined to comment after the hearing.

Ochoa-Bello was charged with transporting the illegal immigrants from a "stash house" in Phoenix, Arizona, bound for destinations in Pennsylvania and New Jersey where they hoped to join relatives and find work.

The van he was driving was stopped Nov. 24




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