BROWNSVILLE, Texas – Ruth Fernandez Morales-Lopez, 32, a Houston resident, pleaded guilty today to her role in a South Texas alien smuggling operation, announced U.S. Attorney Kenneth Magidson along with Special Agent in Charge Janice Ayala of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in San Antonio.
Morales-Lopez was charged along with Abram Erasmo Rodriguez, 21, Olegario Reyes-Bonola, 50, Esteban Castro-Molina, 40, Digma Salinas-De Rivera, 41, Jose Antonio Marin-Sanchez, 43, and Alfredo Prieto, 43, in a 14-count indictment returned in Brownsville on Dec. 11, 2014. All were charged for their roles in a conspiracy to transport undocumented aliens to stash houses in the Brownsville area, where they were concealed until being transported north to Houston.
Reyes-Bonola, Castro-Molina and Salinas-De Rivera, all illegal aliens who resided in San Benito, were arrested in San Benito at a stash house harboring 30 aliens on Nov. 19, 2014. All admitted they were responsible for concealing and harboring the aliens at the direction of Morales-Lopez. Marin-Sanchez, also an illegal alien himself who resided in Brownsville, was arrested the same day as he was transporting undocumented aliens to the San Benito stash house.
A further investigation into the organization revealed more than $1 million in smuggling fees being laundered through bank accounts and money services businesses. Morales-Lopez pleaded guilty to bringing in and harboring aliens and money laundering.
Morales-Lopez admitted she was the person who decided who could stay and who could go at the San Benito stash house based on whether they paid their smuggling fees. She further admitted $1,091,229.90 in her bank account was for alien smuggling fees and that she structured her withdrawals from that account to circumvent the Bank Secrecy Act.
Rodriguez previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to bring into and transport certain aliens within the United States, admitting that from November 2013 through August 2014 he participated in the conspiracy. The six convicted are all set for sentencing on April 7, 2015, before U.S. District Judge Hilda G. Tagle, with Morales-Lopez facing up to 10 years in federal prison for the smuggling charge and up to 20 years for money laundering.
The charges against Prieto are pending. He is presumed innocent unless and until convicted through due process of law. HSI led the investigation with assistance from Border Patrol. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Ana Cano and Karen Betancourt are prosecuting the case.
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Key Facts
- State: Texas
- Category: Human Trafficking|Organized Crime
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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