Tucson federal judge sends man to prison for human smuggling

The final member of a human smuggling organization found to have smuggled 90 people from Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras into Arizona was sentenced to prison by a federal judge in Tucson.

U.S. District Judge Scott H. Rash sentenced Salvador Lopez-Vargas, 36, of Michoacan, Mexico, last week to 36 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release for his management role in a criminal conspiracy to smuggle the 90 immigrants.

A news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office District of Arizona gave the following account:

Agents from Homeland Security Investigations-Douglas conducted surveillance and found that immigrants were being taken to a house and an apartment in the Phoenix metro area from various nearby parking lots. Through a search warrant, agents found 51 immigrants in the house and 32 immigrants in the apartment.

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As agents searched the house, Lopez-Vargas arrived in a van and attempted to flee. Agents stopped the van and found seven immigrants inside.

During the investigation, several immigrants provided statements that they had crossed into the U.S. from Mexico in vehicles and then arrived at the house or apartment, where they waited before going to their final destinations. It was later determined that Lopez-Vargas picked up the immigrants at various locations and took them to the apartment or house.

Lopez-Vargas’ co-conspirators, Eleazar Soto-Diaz, 35, and Jesus Gabriel Villela-Duran, 28, both from Michoacan, Mexico, were sentenced to 13 months and one day in prison.