Honduran Smuggler and Passenger Sentenced

Gulfport, Miss. - A Honduran national was sentenced today to 9 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for transporting an illegal alien within the United States, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Darren J. LaMarca, Jack P. Staton, Acting Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations in New Orleans, and Jason E. Schneider, Chief Patrol Agent of the Border Patrol’s New Orleans Sector.   

On January 26, 2021, Ceferino Guardado-Reyes, 38, was stopped by a Border Patrol Agent while driving on Interstate 10 in Jackson County.  Guardado-Reyes did not have a driver’s license, and a record check revealed an active deportation warrant out of Texas.  The Agent determined Guardado-Reyes and his two passengers were unlawfully present in the United States.  Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) was notified, and all three vehicle occupants were taken to the Border Patrol Station in Gulfport for investigation, including fingerprint scans into Homeland Security databases.  Border Patrol and HSI officials confirmed the identity of Guardado-Reyes and his two passengers as citizens of Honduras and as illegal aliens to the U.S.  It also was determined that Guardado-Reyes was unlawfully transporting or smuggling his two passengers from Texas to Florida.

Guardado-Reyes was charged in a federal indictment with transporting an illegal alien within the United States.  He pled guilty on March 16, 2021.

A passenger in the vehicle, Daniel Romero-Mancia, 25, of Honduras, pled guilty on April 8, 2021, and was sentenced to “time served” (4 months and 15 days), followed by three years of supervised release, for making a false statement to a federal officer.   Romero-Mancia claimed to be from Mexico instead of Honduras and had produced a false identification document.

The case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations and the U.S. Border Patrol.  

The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Stan Harris.