Guilty Plea In Border Deaths

(CBS)  A man accused of bringing a group of illegal immigrants across the Mexican border and leading 14 of them to their deaths in the southern Arizona desert pleaded guilty Thursday to 25 smuggling counts.

Jesus Lopez-Ramos, a 20-year-old Mexican national, had been scheduled to go on trial Nov. 6 but changed his plea during a hearing before U.S. District Judge Susan R. Bolton.

A federal grand jury on May 28 indicted Lopez-Ramos on 14 counts of illegal immigrant smuggling that resulted in death and on 11 counts of illegal immigrant smuggling that resulted in serious bodily injury or placed the immigrants in jeopardy.

Lopez-Ramos likely faces up to 10 years in prison on each count when he is sentenced Jan. 15. Prosecutors could have sought the death penalty but decided against it.

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Federal public defender Gerald A. Williams, who represented Lopez-Ramos, declined to comment on the plea after the hearing.

He had previously said he advised his client to change his plea because he didn't think it was realistic to expect an acquittal.

U.S. Attorney Paul Charlton said authorities were still investigating. "Ths is just one more step in this case," he said.

Charlton declined to comment further.

According to federal investigators, Lopez-Ramos was responsible for recruiting the migrant group as clients in Sonoyta, Mexico, and then guiding them into the United States on May 19 for a fee of $1,400 each.

Four days later, the group was lost and without food or water.

Lopez-Ramos and two other guides collected $90 from the group with the promise to return with water, investigators said.

Prosecutors said Lopez-Ramos and the other guides abandoned the migrants in the desert miles from help in 115-degree heat.

The Rev. Javier Perez, a Roman Catholic priest who visited the hospitalized immigrants Thursday, said they told him they survived by digging up roots and breaking cactus to drink its juice. One told doctors he drank his own urine in desperation.

Lopez-Ramos made it to within five miles of Interstate 8 in Yuma when he was found by Border Patrol agents. Another man was found dead nearby.

The group was discovered by Yuma and Tucson Sector Border Patrol agents May 23 in the Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge, southeast of Yuma.

A second suspected smuggler in the case — Evodio Manilla Cabrera — was indicted by a federal grand jury Sept. 18.



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