Final Defendant in Child Smuggling Trio Sentenced in Del Rio to Federal Prison

DEL RIO, Texas - A Denton man was sentenced in a federal court in Del Rio to 36 months in prison with credit for time served for one count of bringing of an illegal alien to the United States.

According to court documents, Carlos Ortiz-Dena aka Carlos Ortiez-Dena, 28, along with codefendants Sara Adelina Rodriquez and Cecelia Gabriela Guerrero, approached the primary inspection area of the Camino Real International Bridge in Eagle Pass. A U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer (CBPO) observed three minor children sleeping in the backseat of the vehicle. The co-conspirators presented birth certificates for the children and stated that they were nieces and nephews who had crossed with them in the past. A search, however, revealed that the children did not have any crossing history.

The CBPO referred all of the vehicle occupants to passport control secondary, where the oldest child provided a different name than what was reflected on the birth certificate. The child also stated that he was not related to the others. Interviews revealed that the birth certificates did not belong to any of the three children and that they were, in fact, Mexican citizens in the United States illegally.

Ortiz-Dena and Guerrero had been recruited by Rodriguez to travel together to Coahuila, Mexico, and pick up the three children at a hotel. Rodriguez charged the children's families $10,000 each to smuggle the children into the U.S. and intended to pay Ortiz-Dena and Guerrero $2,200 per child once she received the money.

Like Ortiz-Dena, Guerrero was sentenced in July to 36 months in prison with credit for time served. Rodriguez was sentenced in June to 36 months imprisonment to run consecutively to a state penalty.

U.S. Attorney Jaime Esparza for the Western District of Texas made the announcement.

Customs and Border Protection investigated the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy Markovits prosecuted the case.

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