Mauricio Andrade-Garcia, Conspiracy to Transport Illegal Aliens for Profit, Arizona 2024

PHOENIX, Ariz. – Mauricio Andrade-Garcia, 20, of Heber City, Utah, was sentenced yesterday by United States District Judge Douglas L. Rayes to 10 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release.

Andrade-Garcia pleaded guilty to Conspiracy to Transport Illegal Aliens for Profit on March 14, 2024.

He recruited drivers through social media sites, including Snapchat, to pick up undocumented noncitizens (UNCs) in Southern Arizona and to transport them further into the United States for profit.

Andrade-Garcia coordinated with his co-conspirators, providing them with instructions on how and where to pick up the UNCs. He shared GPS coordinates for the UNCs' locations and transportation routes designed to circumvent detection by law enforcement.

Three of Andrade-Garcia's co-conspirators were arrested while transporting the UNCs and convicted in separate cases in CR-23-00482-TUC-JCH and CR-23-00108-TUC-RM.

The investigation was conducted by Homeland Security Investigations–Casa Grande and Customs and Border Protection's United States Border Patrol–Tucson Sector. Assistant United States Attorney Christine D. Keller handled the prosecution.

The case number is CR-23-01024-PHX-DLR and the release number is 2024-111_Andrade-Garcia.

For more information, visit http://www.justice.gov/usao/az/.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-az/pr/human-smuggling-coordinator-sentenced-prison