Four plead guilty in deadly smuggling case

SHERMAN, Texas, March 31 (UPI) -- Four men pleaded guilty Monday to federal charges of illegally smuggling two undocumented immigrants who died in the back of an overheated semi-trailer truck last summer in Texas.

Troy Phillip Dock, 31, and Jason Steven Sprague, 28, drove the truck that pulled a locked trailer packed with 32 illegal aliens. Candelario Aguilera-Reyes, 63, and Maria Belen Guardian de Juarez, 29, operated staging points on the smuggling route through west Texas and New Mexico.

Dock and Sprague pleaded guilty to operating a racketeer influenced and corrupt organization, interstate travel in aid of racketeering, and conspiracy to smuggle, harbor and transport illegal aliens, resulting in death. Aguilera-Reyes and Guardian de Juarez pleaded guilty to conspiracy to smuggle, harbor and transport illegal aliens resulting in death.

All four men could face up to life in prison and $250,000 fines on each count. The pleas were entered as part of a plea bargain with federal prosecutors. The four were originally charged with crimes that could have brought the death penalty.

U.S. Attorney Matthew Orwig called the case the most "despicable" kind of crime.

"Smugglers prey on the oppressed and the poor," he said. "They victimize people who are desperate to come to this country to take advantage of the opportunities and freedom that our country provides. We will use every tool in our federal arsenal to eliminate this cruel activity."

Prosecutors alleged most of the immigrants had paid between $1,500 and $2,000 to be smuggled from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico to Dallas and beyond. They were locked in the trailer from El Paso to Dallas, with no air conditioning. Some of them managed to escape at a Dallas truck stop July 27.

Dock and Sprague were arrested at a truck stop at Anna in north Texas and the bodies of Jose Gaston-Ramirez, 53, of Cuernavaca, Mexico, who was headed for Chicago visit his two daughters, and Pioquinto Cabrera-Vazquez, 28, who was returning to Kentucky to after attending his father's funeral in Veracruz, Mexico.

Two defendants other are still awaiting trial. Eight other defendants named in the federal indictment are still fugitives.