1 year ago
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EDINBURG, Texas (ValleyCentral) — A Texas man has been ordered to federal prison following his conviction for smuggling 20 migrants in a FedEx trailer, officials say.
Vince Ruiz III, 33, pleaded guilty to smuggling the migrants on July 6. During his plea, Ruiz admitted he drove to Edinburg to pick up the trailer and return to Cypress. During the trip, he pulled over to the side of the road in a secluded area where the undocumented individuals were then loaded into the trailer, a release from the United States Attorney’s Office stated.
On Wednesday, a federal judge ordered Ruiz to serve a year and a half in federal prison to be immediately followed by two years of supervised release.
During the hearing, the court heard that "in the event of an emergency or accident, the smuggled individuals would not have been able to extricate themselves from the inside of the trailer," the release stated.
On Oct. 5, 2021, Ruiz drove a white Freightliner tractor pulling two trailers marked “FedEx Ground” into the primary inspection lane at the Border Patrol checkpoint located near Falfurrias.
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