"4th Texas Soldier Convicted of Smuggling Illegal Immigrants"

RallyPoint Shared Content — Fri, 28 Aug 2015 13:57:00 -0400

From: Breitbart

BROWNSVILLE, Texas – Four U.S. Army soldiers previously stationed at Fort Hood, Texas, have been convicted for their roles in smuggling illegal immigrants past U.S. Border Patrol checkpoints north of the Texas border with Mexico.

The most recent conviction took place Wednesday morning in this border city when 25-year-old Yashira Marie Perez-Morales went before U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen, where she pleaded guilty to the charge of human smuggling, information provided to Breitbart Texas by the U.S. Attorney’s Office revealed.

Three other soldiers were convicted along with another man (45-year-old Arnoldo Gracia) from the border city of Harlingen for their role in the human smuggling scheme. The now-convicted soldiers are 20-year-old Eric Alexander Rodriguez, 20-year-old Brandon Troy Robbins, and 21-year-old Christopher David Wix.

Breitbart Texas reported the group’s initial arrests by federal agents. Information that has since become available points to the soldiers running a successful smuggling operation from Spring 2014 until Fall 2014 when the first arrests began to take place.

The soldiers were able to get past the U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint in Sarita, which is about 80 miles from the border, by hiding the immigrants under their military gear as they drove past the inspection area.

On April 13, June 21 and September 2014, authorities discovered the illegal immigrants hiding in the vehicles driven by Robbins, Wix, and Rodriguez respectively. Following the arrests agents with Homeland Security Investigations began to dig deeper into the smuggling operation and identified Gracia and Perez Morales.

U.S. District Judge Hilda Tagle has already sentenced Wix to a year in prison and two years of probation, while the rest of the group is expected to go before Hanen later this year.

http://www.breitbart.com/texas/2015/08/27/4th-texas-soldier-convicted-of-smuggling-illegal-immigrants/

4th Texas Soldier Convicted of Smuggling Illegal Immigrants

Four U.S. Army soldiers previously stationed at Fort Hood, Texas, have been convicted for their roles in smuggling illegal immigrants past U.S. Border Patrol checkpoints north of the Texas border with Mexico.

Response by Sgt Kelli Mays made Aug 28 at 2015 2:50 PM

Sgt Kelli Mays — Fri, 28 Aug 2015 14:50:22 -0400

notice that all soldiers who we convicted are of Hispanic decent....There are laws for reasons....and if they wanted to help these people they should have helped them the legal way.

Response by CPO Andy Carrillo, MS made Aug 28 at 2015 5:10 PM

CPO Andy Carrillo, MS — Fri, 28 Aug 2015 17:10:52 -0400

Ft. Hood sure has taken it's share of 'hits'--from a terrorist Army psychiatrist to corrupt junior enlisted illegally bringing 'God-knows-who' to do 'who-knows-what' against American citizen--AND leaving American law enforcement to deal with the mess wherever these illegal aliens end up. I hope the UCMJ will compensate for the light sentences.

Response by PO1 William "Chip" Nagel made Aug 29 at 2015 6:02 AM

PO1 William "Chip" Nagel — Sat, 29 Aug 2015 06:02:40 -0400

Ah Good Old Fashioned American Entrepreneurship. True Independent Businessmen. Unfortunately it is Illegal and frowned upon whether in or out of Uniform.

Response by MSgt Curtis Ellis made Aug 29 at 2015 4:53 PM

MSgt Curtis Ellis — Sat, 29 Aug 2015 16:53:00 -0400

I guess now we'll have to switch to in-person lectures instead of continuing the annual on-line course in Human Trafficking...

Response by SGT Private RallyPoint Member made Aug 31 at 2015 3:32 AM

SGT Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 31 Aug 2015 03:32:42 -0400

Present choices, will determine future consequences.
No whining, suck it up convict.

Response by SPC George Rudenko made Aug 31 at 2015 3:51 AM

SPC George Rudenko — Mon, 31 Aug 2015 03:51:12 -0400

As the Customs guy here, this is all too common. Military get into financial trouble, and the cartels "pay" for information about soldiers who are in dire straights. They get lured in for the money. There you go. Cartels are everywhere and they know our movements. Very sad.

Response by PO1 John Miller made Aug 31 at 2015 8:03 AM

PO1 John Miller — Mon, 31 Aug 2015 08:03:38 -0400

Had a guy on my last ship doing this. He was already in a deserter status and I guess he ran out of money (big surprise) so he hooked up with some cartel members and started smuggling illegals across the border.

He served his jail time and got turned back over to us where we promptly brought him up on desertion charges and kicked his ass out of the Navy.

Last I heard he was some type of witness against the smuggling operation he was part of.