Human smugglers get prison time

SHERMAN, Texas, Nov. 18 (UPI) -- Two truck drivers were each sentenced to 34 years in prison Tuesday for their roles in a human smuggling scheme in which two illegal immigrants died.

Troy Phillip Dock, 31, and Jason Steven Sprague, 29, pleaded guilty in March to federal charges of racketeering and smuggling aliens that resulted in death. Officials said the sentences may be the longest ever given in such a case.

Dock and Sprague admitted they received several thousand dollars for hauling 30 undocumented immigrants in the back of a padlocked trailer truck in the summer of 2002. They were hauling their human cargo from El Paso to the Midwest.

When the drivers unlocked the trailer at Dallas, most of the immigrants jumped out and ran away, but others were unconscious and some hospitalized. They had been locked inside without enough water or ventilation in the summer heat, federal agents said.

Dock and Sprague closed the trailer up and continued driving north until they were stopped near Anna, Texas, by police. Inside, officers found the bodies of two illegal immigrants and a third in serious condition.