Mexican national pleads guilty to transporting 9 illegal aliens in Calcasieu Parish

LAKE CHARLES, La. – United States Attorney David C. Joseph announced that a Mexican national pleaded guilty last week to transporting nine illegal aliens in Calcasieu Parish. 

Felix Manuel Juarez-Peralta, 28, of Mexico, pleaded guilty Friday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Kathleen Kay to one count of illegal alien transportation. According to the guilty plea, law enforcement officers conducted a traffic stop on a vehicle June 7, 2018 traveling west on Interstate 10 in Sulphur, Louisiana. Officers found Juarez-Peralta and nine illegal aliens in a Toyota 4Runner. One of the passengers was an unaccompanied minor. After questioning the defendant, Juarez-Peralta admitted that he knew the passengers were illegal aliens and that he had been paid to transport them.

One of the illegal aliens traveling in the vehicle was charged with illegal re-entry. Jonathan Flores-Hernandez, 22, of Mexico, pleaded guilty on Monday before U.S. District Judge S. Maurice Hicks Jr. to one count of re-entry of a removed alien and was sentenced to time served. He was previously arrested on April 30, 2018 near Rio Grande, Texas, and was deported to Mexico via the Hidalgo, Texas, port of entry on May 3, 2018.

Homeland Security Investigations, U.S. Border Patrol and Calcasieu Combined Anti-Drug Team conducted the investigation.  Assistant U.S. Attorney David J. Ayo prosecuted the case.