HOUSTON, June 14 (UPI) -- The alleged organizer of a human smuggling ring pleaded guilty Monday in Houston to charges related to the deaths of 19 undocumented aliens in a trailer.
Karla Patricia Chavez Joya, a 26-year-old Honduran national, faces up to life in prison for her role in the ring, U.S. Attorney Michael Shelby said. Her sentencing is scheduled Sept. 13.
Prosecutors said the ring smuggled aliens into the United States from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and the Dominican Republic.
Chavez admitted loading passengers into a truck trailer found May 14, 2003, at Victoria, Texas. Nineteen of the 74 migrants inside the sealed trailer were dead from dehydration and suffocation.
Federal prosecutors have indicted 14 people in connection with the case, which they say is one of the deadliest cases of human smuggling ever uncovered in the United States.
Tyrone Mapletoft Williams, the truck driver who allegedly abandoned the trailer and its human cargo, faces a trial in January. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.
