Nov. 24 (UPI) — A Tucson, Ariz., woman has been sentenced to five years in prison for smuggling undocumented migrants into the U.S., the Justice Department announced. The judge added an additional year for her involvement in a separate case. Mariana Garcia-Tapia, 32, of Tucson, pleaded guilty in July for conspiring to transport illegal immigrants and putting their lives in jeopardy, the Justice Department said in a statement.
Federal prosecutors said a U.S. Border Patrol camera operator saw four suspected undocumented noncitizens approach a 2011 Volkswagen Routan near the Arizona town of Naco on Feb. 2, 2024.
“Another Border Patrol agent responded and observed the group get into the Routan,” prosecutors said. “When Border Patrol stopped the vehicle, they found that it was only occupied by the driver and co-defendant, Sharnesia Latrice Cooley, her two-year-old minor son and the defendant, Garcia-Tapia.”
The judge added an additional 12 months to Garcia-Tapia’s sentence for violating the conditions of her supervised release in another case.
Cooley was found guilty by a jury and is scheduled to be sentenced in January.
This sentencing comes just ten days after Kevin Rojo-Barron, 21 of Phoenix, was sentenced to 12 years in prison for his involvement in a deadly crash on the Tohono O’Odham Indian reservation south of Phoenix, according to a release from the Justice Department.
Rojo-Barron was transporting undocumented immigrants along Federal Route 1 at a high rate of speed when he ran a stop sign at the intersection with Arizona State Route 86, then slammed into a car. The crash killed three members of the Tohono O’Odham nation.
“Further investigation showed that Rojo-Barron was smuggling four undocumented noncitizens and had an AR-15 style rifle in the vehicle at the time of the crash,” the Justice Department said in a statement. One of the undocumented noncitizens died due to the crash and another was permanently injured.”