John T. Floyd Law Firm
Houston Criminal Lawyer
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January 23, 2007
SMUGGLER IN VICTORIA, TEXAS SMUGGLING TRAGEDY SENTENCED
[HOUSTON, TX] – United States Attorney Donald J. DeGabrielle, Jr., announced today that Fredy Giovanni Garcia-Tobar, 31, a Guatemalan national residing in Harlingen, Texas, was sentenced to 180 months in federal prison, without parole, for his role in recruiting Tyrone Mapletoft Williams for a smuggling operation that resulted in the deaths of nineteen (19) undocumented aliens in May 2003 in Victoria, Texas.
The sentence was imposed by U.S. District Judge Vanessa D. Gilmore at a hearing held on Monday, January 22, 2007. In addition to the prison term, Garcia-Tobar will be supervised for a period of five years following his release from prison, although he is subject to deportation upon release from federal prison.
Garcia-Tobar was convicted on December 22, 2004, following a jury trial, of all 39 counts in which he was charged including conspiracy to harbor and transport aliens unlawfully in the United States resulting in bodily injury, jeopardy of a life, and/or resulting in a death; aiding and abetting the unlawful concealment, harboring, sheltering from detection and transportation of nineteen of the surviving aliens resulting in bodily injury and/or jeopardy of a life; and aiding and abetting the unlawful transportation of the nineteen deceased aliens resulting in bodily injury, jeopardy of a life, and/or resulting in a death.
On the morning of May 14, 2003, officers with the Victoria County Sheriff’s Office in Victoria, Texas, discovered a commercial refrigerated trailer allegedly abandoned by co-defendant Tyrone Mapletoft Williams, near Victoria, Texas. The trailer had contained at least seventy-four (74) undocumented aliens. Seventeen (17) of the undocumented aliens were found dead at the discovery site and another two (2) died a short time later at area hospitals.
During trial the United States presented evidence which proved that Garcia-Tobar was a member of the Karla Patricia Chavez-Joya group involved in smuggling and harboring illegal aliens. Additionally, evidence established that Garcia-Tobar assisted in recruiting Tyrone Williams to transport the group of undocumented aliens found in Victoria, Texas from Harlingen, TX.
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