Man Pleads Guilty in Smuggling Case Tied to Fatal Crash
SAN DIEGO -- A Mazatlan, Mexico, man pleaded guilty Wednesday to immigrant smuggling charges stemming from a head-on highway collision in June that killed six people and injured 16 others.
The crash occurred as a van packed with more than 20 illegal immigrants attempted to evade a border checkpoint by driving the wrong way on Interstate 8. The van, which had its headlights off, struck four oncoming vehicles along a dark stretch of road just after 9 p.m. June 24.
The deadly collision took place about 50 miles east of downtown San Diego.
Alfredo Alvarez-Coronado, 25, entered his plea to a single count of bringing illegal immigrants into America for financial gain. His trial would have taken place early next year in U.S. District Court in San Diego. As part of the plea agreement, prosecutors plan to drop 13 additional smuggling charges.
Alvarez-Coronado faces a minimum term of three years and a maximum of 10 years in federal prison when he is sentenced Feb. 28.
He is being held without bail in the Metropolitan Correctional Center. He is the only person to face charges in the crash. Killed were the driver, four undocumented immigrants and a New Mexico man whose SUV was hit. Assistant U.S. Atty. Sherri Walker Hopson said Alvarez-Coronado admitted that he guided the immigrants across the border. But she said prosecutors could not charge him with murder or manslaughter because he was not the driver.
“At sentencing, we will argue that he should be accountable for the deaths of these aliens and the [other] people,” she said.
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