A Utah man has been sentenced to prison after pleading guilty to a human smuggling charge. Mauricio Andrade-Garcia, a 20-year-old resident of Heber City, was given a 10-month prison term on Monday, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Arizona. Following his prison stint, Andrade-Garcia is also slated for three years of supervised release.
Records show that Andrade-Garcia entered a guilty plea for Conspiracy to Transport Illegal Aliens for Profit back in March of this year. His role included using social media platforms such as Snapchat to recruit drivers, these drivers were tasked to pick up undocumented noncitizens (UNCs) in Southern Arizona and deliver them further into the United States as part of a for-profit scheme. The official statement given by the U.S. Attorney's Office detailed that he provided co-conspirators with specific instructions, including GPS coordinates for pick-up spots and routes to avoid law enforcement detection.
Andrade-Garcia's arrest followed that of three associated individuals caught in the act of transporting UNCs, all of whom were previously convicted in separate cases. While Andrade-Garcia contributed from a coordinating standpoint, his recruited drivers faced direct risks on the ground.
The investigation leading to the arrests and subsequent convictions was a joint effort carried out by Homeland Security Investigations–Casa Grande and Customs and Border Protection’s United States Border Patrol–Tucson Sector. Assistant United States Attorney Christine D. Keller, the lead on the prosecution, managed the case against Andrade-Garcia which was filed under case number CR-23-01024-PHX-DLR.
