Phoenix man Tony Cardenas, 36, has been sentenced to a four-year prison term for running a large-scale human smuggling operation out of Arizona. According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Arizona, Cardenas was handed down his sentence last week by U.S. District Judge Jennifer G. Zipps, after pleading guilty to charges of conspiracy to transport and harbor illegal aliens for profit and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
The damning conviction follows a lengthy investigation by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) – Sells and the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), which began in June 2018 and revealed an intricate web of criminal activity. The probe found that individuals, mainly from Central America and Mexico, were smuggled into the United States and temporarily housed in the Tohono O’odham Nation, before being funneled through stash houses in the Tucson and Phoenix areas. The Phoenix-based network functioned as a hub, withholding the undocumented immigrants until their transportation fees were paid in full. Following the payments, these individuals were covertly transported to various U.S. locations.
An in-depth financial examination by IRS-CI played a crucial role in identifying a network of co-conspirators involved in the scheme. This investigation uncovered more than $1 million streamed back into the illicit organization’s pockets through bank accounts and money service operations. So far, seventeen out of eighteen indicted alongside Cardenas have been convicted for their roles in the alien smuggling and money laundering operations, as a statement from the Department of Justice detailed. The remaining co-conspirator is expected to be sentenced on March 28, 2024.
This case is part of a broader crackdown by the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF), which employs a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach to dismantle the most formidable criminal organizations threatening the United States. Cardenas’ arrest and the subsequent indictment of its members reflect the ongoing commitment of HSI and IRS-CI to bring to justice those who exploit the vulnerable and break immigration and financial laws. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Craig Russell and Fred Cocio, District of Arizona, were instrumental in prosecuting the case.
