Jose Cruz Noguez, Human Trafficking, California 2021

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Table of Contents

Thirteen Lives Lost: Human Trafficker Pleads Guilty to Smuggling Incident

San Diego, CA – In a tragic incident that left 13 people dead, Jose Cruz Noguez, a notorious human trafficker, has pleaded guilty to charges stemming from a smuggling incident in Imperial County on March 2, 2021.

Noguez and his co-conspirators sought to smuggle a large number of undocumented migrants into the United States by loading them into modified SUVs and breaching an area of the international boundary fence between Mexico and the United States near Calexico, California.

The defendant admitted to committing various acts to carry out the conspiracy, including recruiting a criminal associate to drive a load vehicle containing up to 20 undocumented migrants. On the morning of March 2, 2021, Noguez used his vehicle to scout the area, confirming there was no law enforcement presence.

After loading dozens of undocumented migrants, including at least one minor, into two modified SUVs, the vehicles drove into the United States through a breach in the international boundary fence. Once inside, the vehicles traveled west along Interstate 8, with one of them catching fire and the other colliding with a tractor-trailer on Highway 115 near Holtville, California.

Noguez pleaded guilty to one count of Conspiracy to Bring in Undocumented Migrants and three counts of Bringing In Undocumented Migrants for Financial Gain, which carry a five-year mandatory minimum sentence.

The case was supported by Joint Task Force Alpha (JTFA), created by the Attorney General in June 2021 to combat human smuggling and trafficking networks operating in Central America and Mexico.

Noguez is scheduled to be sentenced on June 9, 2023, at 9:00 a.m. before U.S. District Judge Cathy Ann Bencivengo.