Aliens' Smuggler Sentenced Posted 2010-07-15

By Pete DeLea





HARRISONBURG - For the third time in the last year, an illegal immigrant has been sent to prison for smuggling other illegal immigrants in a vehicle along Interstate 81 in Shenandoah County.

Jose Hernandez Juarez, 38, was sentenced to two years in prison Wednesday during a hearing in U.S. District Court in Harrisonburg. He pleaded guilty in April to harboring illegal immigrants.

Juarez has been caught in the country illegally five times, prosecutors say. Judge Samuel Wilson told Juarez he took that into consideration when determining his sentence.

"Deterrence is an important factor," Wilson told Juarez. "You've been removed from the country four previous times and that wasn't enough to deter you."

The investigation into Juarez started on April 1, when a Virginia State Police trooper stopped his Ford minivan near Edinburg.

Inside, police say, were three additional illegal immigrants.

According to prosecutors, the owner of the vehicle approached Juarez in Arizona and asked him to take the illegal immigrants to various locations throughout the country.

Prosecutors haven't released the name of the person who owns the minivan.

Juarez picked up some illegal immigrants in Phoenix and made stops in Arkansas, Florida and North Carolina to pick up passengers. The remaining passengers were to be dropped off in Michigan and Pennsylvania.

At one point, prosecutors say, Juarez had at least nine illegal immigrants in the van at one time.

This is the third smuggling case within the last 12 months in more or less the same location along the interstate.

In February, Oliver Leonel Sanchez, 23, pleaded guilty to harboring 10 illegal immigrants after being caught on I-81 near Edinburg. He was sentenced to three years in prison.

In July, Pablo Eliosa Lara, age unknown, pleaded guilty to the same charge, after he was caught smuggling a dozen illegal immigrants near the same spot in Edinburg. He was sentenced to 40 months in prison.

Contact Pete DeLea at 574-6278 or pdelea@dnronline.com

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