Mexican Man Gets 16 Years in Federal Prison for Aggravated Smuggling Conspiracy Investigated by Homeland Security Task Force

DEL RIO, Texas - A Mexican national with legal permanent resident status was sentenced in a federal court in Del Rio to 195 months in prison for conspiracy to harbor illegal aliens causing serious bodily injury and placing lives in jeopardy, announced U.S. Attorney Justin R. Simmons for the Western District of Texas.

According to court documents, Armando Garcia-Martinez aka "Leche" aka "El Compadre" aka "Mando," 43, was a recruiter for the alien smuggling organization that transported a family of illegal aliens from San Antonio to Austin in August 2023. In that event, the family, consisting of a man, a pregnant woman, and their seven-year-old child, were taken hostage by the ASO. Defendants sexually assaulted the pregnant woman, threatened to kill the woman's seven-year-old boy if payments were not made, and they also threatened to sell the woman's unborn baby if they did not get the money they sought. On July 9, 2023, a relative paid at least $1,000 to the ASO due to the threats made toward the family. Still, the ASO continued to demand payment to different accounts as a condition for the release of the aliens.

Beyond his involvement in this particular smuggling event, Garcia-Martinez's role in the ASO was to get the illegal aliens to drivers in Eagle Pass who would smuggle the aliens to San Antonio or Austin. On average, Garcia coordinated two to three trips per week for codefendants Juan Antonio Flores and Pedro Ruiz Gonzalez. Generally, Garcia-Martinez picked up the illegal aliens belonging to codefendant Anthony Ballones Jr. near the train tracks in Eagle Pass and took them to codefendants Ambar Obregon and Tomas Estrada-Torres.

Garcia-Martinez was indicted on April 24, 2024, and arrested May 31. He pleaded guilty on Nov. 18, 2024.

On Feb. 11, co-defendant Flores was sentenced to 212 months for his role in the case. Co-defendants Edwin Alfredo Barrientos-Mateo and Nelson Abilio Castro-Zelaya were sentenced to 360 months and 180 months in federal prison, respectively. Estrada-Torres was sentenced to 151 months, and Rodolfo Daniel De Hoyos was sentenced to 170 months. Gonzalez, Obregon and Ballones have pleaded guilty and are pending sentencing. Chief U.S. District Judge Alia Moses presides over the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Brett Miner prosecuted the case.

This prosecution is part of the Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) initiative established by Executive Order 14159, Protecting the American People Against Invasion. The HSTF is a whole-of-government partnership dedicated to eliminating criminal cartels, foreign gangs, transnational criminal organizations, and human smuggling and trafficking rings operating in the United States and abroad. Through historic interagency collaboration, the HSTF directs the full might of United States law enforcement towards identifying, investigating, and prosecuting the full spectrum of crimes committed by these organizations, which have long fueled violence and instability within our borders. In performing this work, the HSTF places special emphasis on investigating and prosecuting those engaged in child trafficking or other crimes involving children. The HSTF further utilizes all available tools to prosecute and remove the most violent criminal aliens from the United States. HSTF comprises agents and officers from FBI; ICE HSI; DEA; ATF; U.S. Border Patrol; USMS; U.S. Postal Inspection Service; Department of Transportation; IRS Criminal Investigation; Texas Department of Public Safety; as well as local police departments and sheriff's offices, with the prosecution being led by the United States Attorney's Office for the Western District of Texas.

###