A 50-year-old Cuban truck driver was arrested and charged with culpability in a case of illegal migrant trafficking in the United States.
Mario Enrique Nerey-Valdivia faces up to five years in federal prison and a possible maximum fine of $250,000 after being found guilty by a Texas jury following a one-day trial, according to the Office of the District Attorney for the Southern District of that state in the United States.
The publication states that the jury heard that Nerey-Valdivia drove a truck with a trailer to the checkpoint of the Border Patrol near Falfurrias.
Upon encountering an immigration inspection, the agents noticed that an individual was attempting to hide in the rear compartment of the truck.
A more detailed inspection of the vehicle confirmed that there were five undocumented individuals in the bunks covered with blankets.
The defense attorneys for the Cuban tried to convince the jury that the driver was unaware of the people in the cabin of his truck.
However, the court did not believe those claims and found him guilty of the charges, the document states.
The ruling was set by federal district judge David S. Morales for November 6.
He was allowed to remain on bail pending sentencing.
The investigation was conducted by the Department of National Security Investigations and the Customs and Border Protection Service.
In March, two Cuban permanent residents in the United States were arrested by Border Patrol agents in the state of New Mexico after being discovered in an operation involving the trafficking of 23 undocumented immigrants.
The police of the city of Glendale, in Los Angeles, arrested the Cuban Emmanuel Garcia Guzmán, accused of trafficking immigrants from the island to later prostitute them.
Guzmán was arrested in late June during an undercover operation in the Californian city, which is part of the United States' actions against human trafficking involving Cuban citizens in areas such as Houston, Phoenix, Las Vegas, and Miami, according to a case report.
In July, two Cubans residing in Florida were arrested for immigrant smuggling near a border crossing between the United States and Mexico.
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