Neil Edwin Valera, Smuggling Deaths, California 2021

A San Diego jury has delivered a guilty verdict in a harrowing case of human trafficking. Neil Edwin Valera, a 52-year-old truck driver from El Paso, Texas, who resided in Tijuana, was sentenced to five years in prison in connection with the deaths of three Chinese migrants. The migrants, including a mother and her 15-year-old son, were found in the trunk of Valera's BMW two days after he crossed into the United States through the San Ysidro Port of Entry.

The bodies were discovered on August 11, 2019, at 4:54 p.m. in the 2100 block of Jaime Avenue in San Diego. San Diego police officers lifted the trunk and found what initially appeared to be two deceased Asian females. Homicide detectives found an additional victim, an Asian male, pressed up against the rear wall of the trunk.

Video recordings show the same car crossing into the United States from Mexico on August 9, 2019, at the San Ysidro port of entry at 3:14 p.m. According to the complaint, the driver was Valera, the registered owner of the vehicle. Valera used his Sentri card to enter into the U.S. After that day, Valera only crossed into the United States on foot, through pedestrian lanes at the San Ysidro Port of Entry.

At the sentencing hearing today, U.S. District Judge Anthony Battaglia said: “There’s an inherent danger with putting people in the trunks and compartments of cars. It’s not just a fairy tale that people will get hurt or die - it really does happen.”

Neil Edwin Valera pleaded guilty in February 2020 to Encouraging Aliens to Enter Resulting in Death and Bringing in Aliens without Presentation for Financial Gain. This office will aggressively seek justice for victims who no longer have a voice, said Acting U.S. Attorney Randy Grossman.

Valera was charged with Encouraging Aliens to Enter Resulting in Death – Title 8, U.S.C., Section 1324(a)(1)(A)(vi) and (B)(iv) and Bringing in Aliens without Presentation for Financial Gain – Title 8, U.S.C., Section 1324(a)(2)(B)(ii). The maximum penalty for these charges is life in prison or death and $250,000 fine, and a mandatory minimum of three years, up to 15 years in prison respectively.

This case was investigated by the San Diego Police Department, Homeland Security Investigations and U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Office of Field Operations.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdca/pr/man-sentenced-deaths-three-smuggled-chinese-migrants