3 Plead Not Guilty in Fatal Migrant-Smuggling Cases

Immigrant smuggling charges were filed Wednesday against three Mexican nationals who allegedly led ill-fated treks through the mountains of eastern San Diego County during a snowstorm that left three migrants dead this week.

The three men were charged with alien smuggling in a complaint in U.S. District Court in San Diego. Federal prosecutors plan to seek indictments on additional charges. An added allegation that smuggling resulted in death, for example, carries a possible life sentence.

All three pleaded not guilty and were held without bail.

“This is a crime that we will investigate and prosecute to the fullest extent of the law. This is very tragic,” said Gregory A. Vega, U.S. attorney for San Diego and Imperial counties. “These smugglers recklessly endangered the lives of the migrants they prey upon.”

The suspects allegedly led three groups through the mountainous corridor about 50 miles east of San Diego when they were overtaken by a severe weekend storm that dropped 8 inches of snow and sent temperatures plunging into the low 20s.

Two members of a group of nine allegedly led by Alejandro Matus Leva, 25, were found dead Monday off Sunrise Highway, a winding route between Interstate 8 and Mt. Laguna. The group had entered near Tecate two days earlier, Vega said.

Jorge Lemus Contreras, 21, of Jalisco state, and Margarita Jarquin Perez, 17, of Oaxaca died of exposure.

A group of 14 people spotted near Laguna Mountain Lodge included alleged smuggler Juan Ramirez Lopez, 44, prosecutors said. Two survivors led U.S. Border Patrol agents to the body of Emeterio Flores Sotelo, 42, of Morelos, Vega said. The group had walked for three days.

The third alleged smuggler, Juan Ramirez Ortega, 24, was among a group of six immigrants rounded up south of I-8 after two days on foot, authorities said.

Three men await sentencing after pleading guilty to smuggling charges stemming from an incident last spring in which eight migrants died in the snow-covered wilderness.