West Valley man sentenced to 4 years in prison for role in fatal immigrant smuggling scheme

PHOENIX — A U.S. district judge sentenced a Peoria man to over four years in prison for his role in a deadly smuggling scheme, authorities said.

Cesar Abraam Velasquez-Munoz, 20, was sentenced to 52 months in prison, according to a Thursday announcement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona.

He previously pleaded guilty to conspiring to transport documented migrants for profit, prosecutors said.

Peoria man involved in deadly smuggling scheme sentenced

The deadly human smuggling operation took place on March 6, 2024, after Velazquez-Munoz and his co-defendant, Steven Beltran-Lugo, picked up two undocumented migrants near the U.S.-Mexico border, prosecutors said.

The two intended to smuggle the noncitizens deeper into the U.S.

Velazquez-Munoz drove the vehicle while he and Beltran-Lugo communicated with a smuggling coordinator based in Phoenix, prosecutors said.

After seeing Border Patrol agents following the vehicle, Velazquez-Munoz ordered the undocumented migrants to get out of the car. One of the migrants jumped out while it was traveling around 45 mph.

Velazquez-Munoz then sped up the vehicle, at which point the second migrant jumped out and hit the pavement hard, triggering a brain hemorrhage and internal bleeding, prosecutors said.

The second migrant died from the injuries at a hospital two days later.

Beltran-Lugo was sentenced to over 3 years in prison in March.

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