Mexican Citizen Admits Illegal Transportation of Aliens

ALBANY, NEW YORK – Jose Garcia-Flores, a/k/a Moises Agular-Munoz, age 42, formerly a resident of Waldorf, Maryland, and a citizen of Mexico, pled guilty yesterday to transporting three Mexican citizens who had illegally crossed into the United States from Canada.

The announcement was made by Acting United States Attorney Grant C. Jaquith and Chief Patrol Agent John C. Pfeifer, United States Border Patrol, Swanton Sector.

As part of his guilty plea, Garcia-Flores admitted that on the morning of September 17, 2017, along the international border near Champlain, New York, he picked up three Mexican citizens who had crossed the border illegally from Canada the night before.  Garcia-Flores was driving the two men and one woman to Maryland when he was stopped and arrested by Border Patrol Agents at the Border Patrol checkpoint on Interstate 87 (the Northway) on the morning of September 17.   At the time of his crime, Garcia-Flores himself was in the United States without authorization.

United States District Judge Mae A. D’Agostino is scheduled to sentence Garcia-Flores on March 19, 2018.  He faces up to 5 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.  A defendant’s sentence is imposed by a judge based on the particular statute the defendant is charged with violating, the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other factors.

Following the completion of his sentence, the Department of Homeland Security will put Garcia-Flores into removal (deportation) proceedings.

The smuggled aliens, Samuel Alcaraz-Diaz, age 22, Jesus Enrique Vela-Hernandez, age 37, and Guadalupe Diaz-Arevalo, age 43, all of Mexico, were each sentenced on October 3, 2017 to 20 days in jail, and then placed into removal proceedings. 

This case was investigated by the United States Border Patrol and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Edward P. Grogan.