Human smuggler caught after trying to extort money from family pleads guilty to charges
SACRAMENTO - A man pleaded guilty Monday to charges of unlawfully transporting noncitizens "without status."
According to a statement from the U.S. Department of Justice, on September 28, a Sacramento resident called law enforcement to report that a relative and a friend were being held due to a payment dispute over a human smuggling operation.
The caller said the person holding the two was a driver, also referred to as a "coyote", involved in smuggling Mexican citizens to the U.S. He allegedly threatened to drop the two off at an unknown location unless payment was made.
Law enforcement officers met the vehicle at a gas station and discovered four passengers in the vehicle who did not have lawful status in the United States, the DOJ says. They then arrested the driver, Mateo Gomez Gonzalez, 29, of Mexico.
Gomez is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 23, 2023. He faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison for each person smuggled.