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Woman, 39, gets 15 months in failed bid to smuggle kids
By Julia Bishop



A 39-year-old woman who was attempting to smuggle two Mexican children into the United States was sentenced to 15 months in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release.

U.S. District Court Judge Raner C. Collins sentenced her in Tucson on July 7.

Yossi Marielena Tamayo of Tucson pleaded guilty to conspiracy to bring in illegal aliens for profit. Originally she was charged with three counts of conspiracy to transport illegal aliens for profit and transporting illegal aliens for profit, according to court records.

Proof of birth

On Feb. 27, 2005, Tamayo tried to cross the border at the Dennis DeConcini Port of Entry with a boy, an infant girl, and her daughter-in-law, Carmen Kristine Gonzales, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney District of Arizona.

Tamayo testified that the two kids were her grandchildren and the offspring of her daughter-in-law, the statement said.

Gonzales falsely stated that the children were hers and then provided two Arizona birth certificates as proof of their identification.

When a Border Patrol agent asked the boy his name in English, he did not answer and appeared to be groggy. Tamayo told the agent that the child had just eaten and might be having a reaction to the food. When the agent asked the boy his name in Spanish, the boy mumbled "Edwin."

Boy queried

The group was referred to secondary inspection for further investigation. There, the boy was asked if he knew Tamayo and the other woman and he replied that they were taking him to his mother.

Tamayo admitted that a friend of her's had asked her if she was willing to smuggle his niece and nephew into the country. She told the man she would have to think about it and then contacted her friend in California for advice on how to smuggle the children and how much she should charge, according to records.

The friend told Tamayo that she should clean and dress the children up well and that she should charge $850 each. Tamayo said that she then recruited her daughter-in-law to assist, the document says.

Tamayo told agents she purchased a bottle of children's allergy liquid medication in Green Valley on the way to Nogales so that she could give the medication to the mother of the children. She met the mother at a hotel in Nogales, Sonora, where the mother gave half the bottle of medication to the boy to calm him down.

Cut her hair

Tamayo admitted that she had told the children's parents to cut the baby girl's hair and purchase boy's clothing for her.

Gonzales told agents that her mother-in-law had recruited her to assist in the smuggling and told her to bring her own childrens' birth certificates and was promised an undetermined amount of money for helping.

Border Patrol agents determined that the boy was five years old and the baby girl was 13 months old. The children were turned over to the Mexican Consulate in Nogales, who then returned them to their mother.

Gonzales was sentenced to probation.