Smugglers sentenced to 89 years in Texas kidnapping, rape of pregnant mom, DOJ says
Five members of a human smuggling organization have been sentenced to a combined 89 years in federal prison in a case involving the kidnapping of a family and the sexual assault of a pregnant woman, federal prosecutors said Tuesday.
The sentences stem from a smuggling scheme in which undocumented immigrants were transported across Texas and later held hostage while smugglers demanded payments from relatives, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Texas.
Eagle Pass man sentenced to more than 14 years in Texas human smuggling case
The latest defendant sentenced was Rodolfo Daniel De Hoyos, 22, of Eagle Pass, who received just over 14 years in federal prison Monday after pleading guilty to conspiracy to harbor undocumented immigrants causing serious bodily injury and placing lives in jeopardy.
Federal prosecutors said De Hoyos was first arrested on Nov. 22, 2021, in Kinney County, when a Texas Department of Public Safety trooper stopped his vehicle and noticed three passengers wearing "dirty clothing, hiking boots and camouflage backpacks." De Hoyos admitted the passengers were undocumented immigrants from Guatemala whom he was transporting to Del Rio for $1,500.
Authorities said De Hoyos was arrested again in August 2023 for transporting undocumented immigrants for a co-conspirator, Anthony Ballones Jr. Investigators later found information on De Hoyos's cellphone corroborating his role in the smuggling operation, federal investigators said.
Family from Guatemala taken hostage, pregnant woman sexually assaulted
Prosecutors said that the 2023 smuggling incident involved transporting a family — a man, a pregnant woman and their 7-year-old child — from San Antonio to Austin.
According to court records, the family was taken hostage by the human smuggling organization, which demanded money from relatives. During the ordeal, the men sexually assaulted the pregnant woman, threatened to kill the child if payments were not made and threatened to sell the woman's unborn baby if the smugglers did not receive additional money, the Department of Justice said.
On July 9, 2023, a relative paid at least $1,000 to the organization due to the threats, but prosecutors said the smugglers continued demanding additional payments to multiple accounts before releasing the family.
Authorities said De Hoyos had been working with Ballones Jr. for about one year before his arrest. He pleaded guilty in November 2024 to one count in a six-count indictment.
Several other members of the smuggling organization have already been sentenced.
On Feb. 11, Juan Antonio Flores was sentenced to more than 17 years in prison. Edwin Alfredo Barrientos-Mateo received 30 years, Nelson Abilio Castro-Zelaya was sentenced to 15 years, and Tomas Estrada-Torres received over 12 years.
Together with De Hoyos' sentence, the five defendants received a combined 89 years in federal prison.
Four additional alleged members of the human smuggling organization, Ambar Obregon, Pedro Ruiz Gonzalez, Armando Garcia-Martinez and Anthony Ballones Jr., have pleaded guilty and are awaiting sentencing.
