Posted on 07/24/2006 10:12:33 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
OKLAHOMA CITY
A California man has been convicted in federal court of smuggling illegal immigrants from Los Angeles to Oklahoma, a federal prosecutor said Monday.
Jose Angel Lopez-Lozoya, 32, of Paramount, Calif., was convicted Friday of eight counts of transporting illegal aliens, said John Richter, the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Oklahoma.
The trial lasted five days. Lopez-Lozoya faces a sentence on each count of up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. A sentencing hearing before District Judge Vicki Miles-LaGrange will be set in about 60 to 90 days, Richter said.
"This case demonstrates that trafficking of aliens is an organized underground business that preys upon desperate people," Richter said.
Evidence in the trial showed Lopez and his co-defendant, Brandy Lee Beverly, 23, also of Paramount, were stopped by North Enid police on April 26, for speeding in a school zone. Police there suspected the pair of transporting illegal immigrants and notified federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement authorities, who began investigating.
Immigrants transported testified they arranged for trips to various cities after seeing ads in Spanish-language newspapers in the Los Angeles area and that Lopez-Lozoya and Beverly drove them to jobs in Tulsa, Tennessee, North Carolina, Georgia and Louisiana.
Beverly previously pleaded guilty to another charge and faces up to three years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Immigrants transported testified they arranged for trips to various cities after seeing ads in Spanish-language newspapers in the Los Angeles area ...
hmmmm...
Ya know I can't say much. When I was doing restaurant work I told my friend (who was going home to visit his daughter) to call me when he got back to TJ 'cause I'd go and get him if he asked me to. It is true I would have been a criminal then but, it is not so easy; he is my friend.
"Beverly previously pleaded guilty to another charge and faces up to three years in prison and a $250,000 fine."
We'll see what he gets.
ping
ping
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