Human smuggling operation moved thousands
Eusebio Arce-Padilla, 57, of Rio Rico, Ariz., and Miguel Torres-Organiz, 62, of Tucson, Ariz., were found guilty by a federal jury in Tucson of conspiracy to bring, transport, and harbor undocumented aliens. The court issued warrants for the arrest of Arce-Padilla and Torres-Organiz after they both absconded during trial.
Both men are scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 1, 2012. The jury failed to reach a verdict on co-defendant Miguel Toralba-Mendia, 50, of Tucson, Ariz. The court declared a mistrial in his case and has scheduled a status conference on July 27th to set a date for his retrial.
Evidence presented at trial showed that Arce-Padilla, also known as “Chevo,” was the head of a Nogales, Arizona-based human smuggling organization that moved thousands of undocumented aliens into the United States over more than five years.
The organization guided the undocumented aliens around the U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint on Interstate 19 south of Green Valley, Ariz. The organization then transported them in private vehicles to various shuttle businesses in Tucson, where they boarded marked shuttle vans to be taken to parking lots in Phoenix. In Phoenix, the undocumented aliens were transferred into private vehicles and taken to drop houses where money was collected from sponsors before the undocumented aliens would be transported to their ultimate destinations in the United States. The organization collected fees in the average range of $1,700 to $2,000 for the trip from Nogales, Sonora, to Phoenix.
This was the second trial related to Operation In Plain Sight, a major investigation conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). The investigation resulted in indictments against 74 individuals in April 2010. In the first trial, which took place from Jan. 24 through Feb. 1, 2012, a jury returned guilty verdicts against Ruperto Guillen-Cervantes, 55, and Betty Castillo, 39, both of Tucson. On May 16, 2012, Guillen-Cervantes and Castillo were both sentenced to 37 months in federal prison. All but one of the remaining defendants in the case entered guilty pleas. Charges against one defendant were dismissed on government motion.
A conviction for conspiracy to bring, transport, and harbor illegal aliens carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine, or both.