Pedro Rayon-Perez, Alien Smuggling, Texas 2012

A McAllen, Texas, resident has been convicted of running an alien smuggling scheme, in which he and his accomplices demanded payment from families of undocumented aliens.

Pedro Rayon-Perez, a 26-year-old Mexican National, entered a guilty plea in federal court on the day his trial was set to begin. He faces up to 10 years imprisonment at sentencing.

The scheme involved five undocumented aliens who crossed into the United States on November 12, 2011. Rayon-Perez and his accomplices, including Roxanna Leal, 25, of McAllen, and Mexican Nationals Luis Aguilar-Hernandez, 41, and Osiel Castillo, 45, had agreed to demand payment of the aliens’ smuggling fees from their families while they held the aliens at stash houses in McAllen and Pharr.

The investigation revealed that the defendants planned to coerce early payment of the fees from the families and release the aliens in public places throughout the Rio Grande Valley, rather than in Houston as previously agreed.

The scheme began to unravel when Rayon-Perez convinced the family of a pregnant alien and her husband to wire $4,800, only to double-cross Aguilar-Hernandez by failing to divide the proceeds. The family sought law enforcement assistance, and a tactical operation was conducted by the San Juan Police Department and the United States Marshals Service on November 17, 2011, which freed the aliens from the stash house.

Rayon-Perez and his accomplices were charged in an indictment returned on August 28, 2012. Aguilar-Hernandez and Castillo have already entered guilty pleas in the case.

U.S. District Judge Randy Crane has set sentencing for June 20, 2013, for Rayon-Perez and Aguilar-Hernandez, while the other two defendants will be sentenced on June 13, 2013, at 2:00 p.m.

The case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations with assistance from the San Juan Police Department. Assistant United States Attorneys Grady J. Leupold and Leo J. Leo III are prosecuting the case.

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