Sharnesia Latrice Cooley, 31, of Tucson, received a 60-month prison sentence for her role in a human trafficking operation. Cooley was found guilty at trial on November 1, 2024, of Conspiracy to Transport Illegal Aliens for Profit and Transporting Illegal Aliens for Profit.

On February 2, 2024, near Naco, a United States Border Patrol camera operator observed four suspected undocumented noncitizens approach a 2011 Volkswagen Routan. Another Border Patrol agent responded and observed the group get into the Routan. When Border Patrol was able to stop the vehicle, they found that it was only occupied by Cooley, who was the driver, her two-year-old minor son, and a co-defendant, Mariana Garcia-Tapia.

A search of the area revealed four seriously injured people strewn along the road just east of the San Pedro Bridge. Their injuries were consistent with having jumped from a moving vehicle. It was determined that all four were illegally present within the United States. One of the undocumented noncitizens admitted that they made arrangements to be smuggled into the United States for a sum of money. All four were transported to the hospital with injuries including serious head trauma.

Cooley’s co-defendant, Mariana Garcia-Tapia, pleaded guilty to Conspiracy to Transport Illegal Aliens for Profit Placing in Jeopardy the Life of Any Person on July 10, 2024. She was sentenced on November 15, 2024, to 60 months in prison by Judge Scott H. Rash with an additional 12 months in prison to run consecutive to her sentence for violating the conditions of her supervised release in a separate case (CR-22-00816-002-PHX-DJH).

Customs and Border Protection’s United States Border Patrol conducted the investigation in this case. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Alicia Renee Quezada and Caroline Allen, District of Arizona, Tucson, handled the prosecution.

The case is identified as CR 24-00910-TUC-SHR. Release number is 2025-009_Cooley.

For more information on the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Arizona, visit http://www.justice.gov/usao/az/. Follow the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Arizona, on X @USAO_AZ for the latest news.

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