United States Attorney
Northern District of Texas

1100 Commerce St., 3rd Fl.
Dallas, Texas 75242-1699

Telephone (214) 659-8600
Fax (214) 767-0978

MAN SENTENCED TO 41 MONTHS
IN FEDERAL PRISON, WITHOUT PAROLE, FOR
TRANSPORTING ILLEGAL ALIENS IN HIS 18-WHEELER

United States Attorney Richard B. Roper announced that Darrell L. Morris, of Monroeville, Alabama, was sentenced today by the Honorable Sam R. Cummings, United States District Judge, to 41 months imprisonment. Morris, age 55, has been in custody since his arrest in Fresno, California, on May 17, 2006, after he had absconded from pretrial supervision. In June 2006, Morris pled guilty to one count of transporting illegal aliens

On April 7, 2005, a trooper with the Texas Department of Public Safety, performed a traffic stop near Tye, Texas on a Freightliner tractor-trailer. The driver of the tractor-trailed did not have a drivers license and the passenger in the front seat, Darrell L. Morris, appeared to be intoxicated. Morris was the owner of the tractor-trailer. The trooper decided to take the truck out of service and had the driver move the vehicle to a nearby truck stop.

At the truck stop, several troopers then opened the trailer doors in order to inspect the trailer and discovered 48 undocumented aliens crammed into the trailer. Interviews with the undocumented aliens revealed that they were all in the United States illegally, having been smuggled into the United States from Mexico at El Paso, Texas, and then loaded into the tractor trailer in El Paso at 11:00 p.m. on April 6, 2005, for transportation to Dallas. The affidavit filed with the criminal complaint filed on April 8, 2005, stated that the aliens were charged a smuggling and transportation fee of between $800 and $2000 each and Morris admitted he was to be paid $2000 by an unknown smuggler in El Paso for transporting the aliens. It was determined that the driver of the vehicle was not involved in the scheme, and was released.

U.S. Attorney Roper praised the investigative efforts of the Texas Department of Public Safety, the U.S. Border Patrol in Abilene, Texas, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Denise Williams of the Lubbock, Texas, United States Attorney’s Office.

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