Man pleads guilty in deadly immigrant smuggling case

McALLEN — The overseer of a group of immigrant stash houses admitted his role Tuesday in a smuggling ring responsible for the deaths of nine Central American migrants.

Jorge Hernandez Hernandez pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to transport illegal aliens, abruptly ending a jury trial that started Monday on a total of 12 counts, including the one to which he copped.

Prosecutors alleged Hernandez, 38, ran a series of homes in Edinburg that housed hundreds of immigrants on their way to Houston.

From 2002 to 2004 the group is believed to have helped more than 10,000 people enter the country illegally, according to court documents.

But on Aug. 9, 2004, one of its attempts ended in death.

U.S. Border Patrol agents patrolling south of Pharr came across a Ford Crown Victoria that had overturned into an irrigation canal. Emergency responders pulled seven bodies from the waterway and later discovered two more still stuck in the vehicle.

The driver of that van, Armando Campos, told investigators with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement that he had been driving along the canal with his headlights turned off to avoid detection. He accidentally plunged the vehicle into the waterway while making a sharp right turn, he said, according to a criminal complaint filed in one of his co-defendants’ cases

Campos and the smuggling organization’s top man, Jose Antonio Arispe Elizondo, made no attempt to rescue any of their passengers before fleeing the scene, they testified Monday.

The migrants — all from El Salvador and Honduras — were on their way to one of Hernandez’s stash houses at the time of the wreck.

Campos spent several months in jail for his involvement in the crash, but his charges were later dismissed in exchange for his willingness to testify against the leaders of the smuggling organization.

Arispe pleaded guilty in 2006 and is currently serving an eight-year sentence.

Hernandez could face up to life in prison at a sentencing hearing scheduled for Dec. 15 in U.S. District Court.

His attorney Bland David Puente did not return calls for comment Tuesday.

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Jeremy Roebuck covers courts and general assignments for The Monitor. You can reach him at (956) 683-4437.