Migrant Smuggling Ring Leader Sentenced To 10 Years In Prison

SAN DIEGO, CA — A Riverside man who prosecutors say ran a large scale migrant smuggling ring that employed drivers instructed to engage in high- speed pursuits from police -- including one that led to a fatal San Diego County crash -- was sentenced Friday to 10 years in federal prison.

Felipe de Jesus Rosales-Herrera, 38, admitted in a plea agreement that his organization smuggled over 100 undocumented migrants into the United States, with migrants typically charged about $10,000 per person to be brought into the country.

The U.S. Attorney's Office says Rosales-Herrera employed foot guides to lead migrants into the U.S. and drivers to transport migrants to stash houses. Those drivers were told to flee if Border Patrol officers tried to pull them over, prosecutors said.

One of those drivers fled from Border Patrol agents on Christmas Day 2021 and crashed into a tree near the Thousand Trails campground, according to prosecutors. Gaudencio Gerardo Luna-Vasquez, 52, was killed in the crash, while two others were hospitalized with critical injuries.

The driver, Kevin Antonio Quevedo-Moncada, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to more than four years in federal prison.

The U.S. Attorney's Office said Rosales-Herrera and others in the organization continued smuggling people after knowing of the fatal crash.

San Diego U.S. Attorney Tara McGrath said in a statement that Rosales- Herrera and his subordinates "viewed migrants as dollar signs, not people."

The sentencing judge, U.S. District Judge Cathy Bencivengo, told Rosales-Herrera at Friday's sentencing hearing, "You traded in human life, trafficked in people ... to line your own pockets. The worst-case scenario in alien smuggling, where someone died, did not deter you."

— City News Service