Man gets jail time for fatal smuggling attempt in drain pipe
SAN DIEGO (CNS) – A man who led more than a dozen migrants through an underground drainage pipe on the U.S.-Mexico border during a rainstorm that led to his brother’s drowning death was sentenced Monday to nearly four years in prison.
Leobardo Soto-Toledo pleaded guilty earlier this year to federal charges stemming from the death of his brother, Diego Soto-Castro on January 29. U.S. District Judge Cynthia Bashant sentenced Soto-Toledo to 45 months in custody Monday morning in federal court in San Diego.
According to prosecutors, Soto-Toledo led about 14 people into the pipe, which ends up on the U.S. side in a mechanical grate located about a mile east of the San Ysidro Port of Entry.
Prosecutors allege that Soto-Toledo’s task was to shout for help, prompting border patrol personnel to open the grate, which would allow the migrants to flee into a large swampy area nearby.
When the grate was opened, Soto-Toledo’s brother was found dead in a rushing stream. A woman was also found unresponsive and floating in the water. She was later resuscitated in a hospital.
Three of the people who entered the tube paid between $ 8,000 and $ 9,636 to be smuggled into the United States, according to prosecutors’ sentencing papers. Soto-Toledo was to be paid $ 500 for the job.
In a defense judgment note, Soto-Toledo’s lawyer, Ryan Mardock, wrote that his client only agreed to guide the migrants to support his family in Mexico. Soto-Toledo was told by a recruiter that there would be “no problems”, according to the lawyer, who wrote that those who led the event “raped Mr Soto’s financial situation in the same way that they prey. on the countless people who attempt to enter the United States illegally each year. “
The death was one of several highlighted by federal authorities earlier this year in an attempt to deter migrants from entering into dangerous smuggling attempts.
Other recent fatal smuggling incidents in the San Diego area include two maritime trials in May that resulted in capsized or disabled vessels.
On May 2, a boat carrying more than 30 migrants ran aground off Point Loma, leading to three drowning deaths. On May 20, a person drowned when a panga boat came to a standstill off the coast of La Jolla and its occupants were instructed to swim ashore. In both cases, migrants paid more than $ 12,000 each to be smuggled.
Last month, a woman died as she and dozens of others tried to swim from Tijuana to Border Field State Park in Imperial Beach.
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