Former HPD Officer Sentenced to Federal Prison for Smuggling Undocumented Immigrants

DEL RIO, TX — A former Houston police officer and his wife have each been sentenced to 15 months in federal prison for smuggling undocumented immigrants.

On November 8, 2015, U.S. Border Patrol agents from the Carrizo Springs station conducted an immigration inspection on a vehicle traveling on Highway 85 in Big Wells, TX.

Juan Carrillo, 52, and his wife Rosa Lidia Carrillo, 43, were riding up front with four people in the back. During the inspection, agents learned that four of the people in the vehicle in the car, including the Carrillos, were U.S. citizens, the other two were in the country illegally.

Apparently, Rosa Carrillo had wired $1,500 to a coyotaje to get a family member across the border. When the family member was in the U.S., the Carrillos drove about 350 miles to Eagle Pass, TX to pick him or her up, along with another undocumented individual, and drive them both back to Houston.

On January 28, both of the Carrillos pleaded guilty to one count of transporting undocumented immigrants.