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Date: 08-24-2022
Case Style:
Case Number: 9:22-cr-00013
Judge: Dana L. Christensen
Court: United States District Court for the District of Montana (Missoula County)
Plaintiff's Attorney: United States Attorney’s Office
Description: Missoula, Montana criminal lawyer represented Defendant charged with transporting illegal aliens.
Miguel Angel Medina, 62, of Seattle, Washington, and Leslie Patricia Rivera, age 51, also from Seattle, on Aug. 23 transported illegal aliens who crossed into the United States through a remote area in Lincoln County. Montana.
“Rivera and Medina, motivated by money, transported six illegal Mexican nationals who walked across the border in the middle of winter to be picked up in the middle of nowhere. We will continue working with law enforcement to secure our border with Canada and will prosecute those who engage in this dangerous smuggling activity that exploits vulnerable people. I want to thank our assistant U.S. attorneys and the U.S. Border Patrol for their work on this case,” U.S. Attorney Laslovich said.
In court documents and at trial, the government alleged that Rivera and Medina picked up six illegal aliens who had just crossed the international border from Canada in the Green Basin area of the West Kootenai near Rexford, in Lincoln County, a place that was not a port of entry. Rivera and Medina had left Seattle in a rented car the prior day and drove straight through. A friend of Rivera’s had offered her $3,500 to pick up four people and drive them back to Seattle. At the time of Rivera’s arrest, she had received partial payment. Rivera paid Medina $1,000 to accompany her. At approximately 5 a.m. on Jan. 19, a U.S. Border Patrol agent was notified of persons potentially attempting to illegally enter the United States. The agent ultimately stopped a SUV with a Washington license plate on a Forest Service road. Rivera was the driver, Medina was the front passenger and six other occupants, who acknowledged being from Mexico and in the country illegally, were in the rear two seats. All eight suspects were transported to the Eureka Border Patrol Station for processing. The six illegal aliens claimed to have paid from $180 to $7,324 to be smuggled into the United States.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office prosecuted the case, which was investigated by the U.S. Border Patrol.
8:1324.F - CONSPIRACY TO TRANSPORT ILLEGAL ALIENS
(1)
8:1324.F - TRANSPORTATION OF ILLEGAL ALIENS
(2)
Outcome: Rivera and Medina face a maximum of 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release.
Plaintiff's Experts:
Defendant's Experts:
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