Latest Legal News from the Federal Criminal Courts in the United States

July 04, 2007

THREE TEXAS NATIONAL GUARDSMEN INDICTED FOR CONSPIRACY TO TRANSPORT AND TRANSPORTATION OF ILLEGAL ALIENS

(LAREDO, TX) – A six count criminal indictment has been returned by a Laredo federal Grand Jury charging three Texan National Guardsmen with one count of conspiring to transport illegal aliens and five counts of transporting illegal aliens, United States Attorney Don DeGabrielle announced today.

Jose Rodrigo Torres, 26, and Julio Cesar Pacheco, 25, both of Laredo, TX and Clarence Hodge, Jr. 36,of Fort Worth, TX are each named in the criminal indictment. Bond has been set in the amount of $75,000 for each defendant. All three defendants remain in custody and are expected to appear before a United States Magistrate Judge on July 12, 2007 for arraignment.

According to the allegations in the indictment, all three defendants were in the Texas National Guard assigned to Operation Jumpstart, a federal program intended to assist Customs and Border Protection with immigration enforcement along the Texas Border. The three defendants were assigned to work the IH-35 Border Patrol checkpoint and assist Border Patrol agents in the dismantling of vehicles suspected of containing narcotics and/or concealed humans. The indictment alleges that on various dates between May 17, 2007 and June 7, 2007 the three defendants conspired to transport and transported approximately 112 aliens in a National Guard leased van from Laredo, Texas through the service lane at the IH-35 Border Patrol checkpoint to locations north of Laredo. Hodge, who was on duty at the Border Patrol checkpoint during each event, is alleged to have enabled Torres to proceed through the Border Patrol checkpoint without an immigration inspection. Pacheco is alleged to have notified Torres when the groups of aliens were ready for transportation and directed Torres via cellular text messages to a location in Cotulla, Texas where the aliens were to be left. Torres was paid a smuggling fee by either Pacheco or Hodge.

If convicted, each defendant faces a maximum of 10 years in federal prison, without parole, and a $250,000 fine per each count of conviction.

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