17 August – LAWFUEL – The Law News Network – R. Alexander Acosta, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Jesus Torres, Special Agent-In-Charge, United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and Rick Lincoln, Chief of the Lantana Police Department, announced today that defendants, Rogino Sanchez and Ricardo Jose Contreras were sentenced by United States District Court Judge Donald M. Middlebrooks in Miami, Florida. Sanchez was sentenced to a term of fifteen (15) months imprisonment and two (2) years supervised release. Contreras was sentenced to a term of eighteen (18) months imprisonment and three (3) years supervised release.
On June 8, 2005 a federal grand jury sitting in Miami, Florida, returned an Indictment charging the defendants with one (1) count of conspiring to transport illegal aliens within the United States for profit and one (1) count of transporting an illegal alien within the United States for profit.
According to the initial complaint filed in this matter, Sanchez and Contreras picked up an illegal alien, an 18 year old Guatemalan female, in Arizona and transported her to Alabama and then Florida. When they arrived in Florida to deliver the illegal alien to Palm Beach County, Florida, Sanchez and Contreras met with the individual’s father to collect final payment of $2,500 for the transportation. Both men were arrested on March 29, 2005, after they refused to turn over the female to her family in Palm Beach County, Florida, when her father failed to come up with the full amount owed ($2,500) for the smuggling. An initial payment of $1,456 had been previously wired to Mexico via Western Union, followed by two additional payments of $700 and $600 sent to Mesa, Arizona.
Mr. Jiménez commended the investigative efforts of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and the Lantana Police Department. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Janice Le Clainche, of the West Palm Beach Office.
A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida at www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.
