Aug. 16, 2010

SECOND CONVICTION FOR TRANSPORTING ILLEGAL ALIENS SENDS MEXICAN MAN TO FEDERAL PRISON

WICHITA, KAN. –Jose Alberto Orozco-Larios, 32, a citizen of Mexico, has been sentenced to 46 months in federal prison for unlawfully transporting illegal aliens in the United States.

Orozco-Larios pleaded guilty to one count of transporting illegal aliens and one count of aggravated re-entry after deportation. In his plea, he admitted he was pulled over March 9, 2010, in Seward County, Kan., while driving a van load of illegal aliens from Mexico to Wichita where they hoped to find work. Orozco-Larios was driving a 1998 Pontiac minivan when a Seward County Sheriff’s officer stopped him and found that Orozco-Larios and his eight passengers were illegal aliens. Four of the passengers were female children who were not accompanied by parents.

At first, Orozco-Larios gave the Sheriff’s officer a false identity. By checking his fingerprints through Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Automated Biometric Identification System, investigators learned his true name and discovered he had a record of immigration violations. Two years earlier, in December 2006, he had been deported from the United States. In July 2008, he was convicted in Pennsylvania on federal charges of transporting illegal aliens and unlawful re-entry after deportation. After serving the sentence in that case, he was deported a second time.

The Seward County Sheriff’s Office and Immigration and Customs Enforcement investigated. Assistant U.S. Attorney Brent Anderson prosecuted.