Man Who Ran Human Smuggling Ring Setenced to Four Years in Jail

A Houston man who operated an immigrant-smuggling ring into the United States was sentenced Wednesday to 51 months in federal prison, US Attorney Paul Fishman said.

Sanderlei Alves DaCruz, 33, was part of a scheme involving five others -- including two Newark residents -- who brought in people from India, Brazil and other countries via routes through Latin America to the Mexican border and through the Bahamas or St. Maartens to Puerto Rico or Florida.

Many of the illegal immigrants, who were charged between $13,000 and $25,000, were women from Brazil who worked off their debt by dancing in Newark strip clubs. The cost depended partly on the route taken, Fishman said.

Several of DeCruz’s co-conspirators had pleaded guilty in December 2011, including Nacip Teotonio Pires, 49, and Claudinei Pereira Mota, 35, both of Newark.

US District Judge Joseph Rodriguez also sentenced DeCruz to three years’ parole following his release from jail.