Three Smugglers Sentenced To Prison Terms (NPS Digest)

Three Smugglers Sentenced To Prison Terms (NPS Digest)
ORGAN PIPE CACTUS NATIONAL MONUMENT
While on helicopter patrol last January 3rd, rangers saw several people attempting to avoid detection in the Alamo Canyon area and noted that some of them were wearing what appeared to be large burlap covered backpacks consistent with those used in the area by smugglers to carry large loads of contraband and provisions. The rangers landed and moved to intercept them. Several fled, but they were able to capture three of them – Ivan Alva-Flores, Francisco Lopez-Velasquez, and Jorge Cruz-Gonzalez – and seize 147 pound of processed marijuana. A special agent from the NPS Investigative Services Branch interviewed the three men, who told him that they’d been paid between $1500 and $1800 to run the drugs across the border. All three pled guilty in federal court over the course of this past summer. Alva-Flores was sentenced to 15 months in prison and the other two men each received sentences of 13 months in jail. Upon release, they’ll be transferred to immigration officials for removal proceedings.