A Laredo man has been slapped with a 42-month prison sentence for his role in smuggling undocumented individuals into the United States, marking his second conviction for such crimes. David Alberto Martinez, 39, had previously pleaded guilty to charges of transporting and conspiring to transport undocumented non-citizens, according to a federal court statement.
The recent ruling was handed down by U.S. District Judge Marina Garcia Marmolejo, who also tacked on three years of supervised release following Martinez's prison term, as stated in a press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office. The court heard of the defendant's previous convictions which painted a pattern of unlawful behavior involving human smuggling operations.
Martinez was busted at a border patrol checkpoint on Interstate Highway 35 when the vehicle, supposedly packed with all family, was found to include an undocumented Guatemalan citizen and five unrelated juvenile children according to the prosecutors. One of the individuals smuggled reported having paid a hefty $8,500 to a smuggling organization for passage further into the United States.
The history of Martinez's flagrant disregard for the law includes a prior incident where he crashed a vehicle carrying 10 people, which resulted in serious injuries and emergency medical responses, as per the U.S. Attorney's Office. This conviction underscores a continuing challenge that law enforcement faces in tackling the human smuggling crisis.
Expected to be shipped off to a federal prison, Martinez currently remains in custody. The Border Patrol conducted the investigation that led to his conviction, with special Assistant U.S. Attorney Terence A. Check Jr. and Assistant U.S. Attorney Brandon Scott Bowling spearheading the prosecution.
