Mexican citizen gets prison for helping person trying to enter U.S. illegally

pFORT COVINGTON — A Mexican citizen was sentenced Tuesday to prison in a federal court in Albany for aiding and assisting an immigrant trying to enter the U.S. illegally near Fort Covington./ppMaria Angelica Cruz Lancheros, also known as Coral Marisol Tovar-Flores, 42, was sentenced to 63 months in prison, to be followed by three years of post-release supervision, according to a news release by U.S. Attorney Grant C. Jaquith and Robert N. Garcia, Acting Chief Patrol Agent, U.S. Border Patrol, Swanton Sector./ppOn May 5, 2017, Mr. Cruz Lancheros traveled to Fort Covington with Jose Cardona Brito, 43, a citizen of Colombia, in a bid to help Jose Idarraga Lozano sneak into the U.S. from Canada. They were unsuccessful May 5, and tried again the next day, the release stated./pp“Cruz Lancheros and Cardona Brito met with and picked up Idarraga Lozano, 34, of Colombia, along the border near Fort Covington late on the night of May 6, 2017,” the release read. “As they were leaving the border area, they were stopped and arrested by Border Patrol Agents on New York State Route 11 near Burke, New York. Idarraga Lozano was inadmissible for entry into the United States, as he had been convicted of an aggravated felony, for drug trafficking, in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey, in 2007, and removed to Colombia in 2009.”/ppOn May 9, Mr. Cardona Brito was also convicted of helping an aggravated felon illegally enter the United States, and sentenced to time served (24 months in jail), followed by 1 year of supervised release. /ppOn March 28, 2018, Mr. Lozano was sentenced to 16 months in prison, to be followed by one year of post-release supervision for his guilty plea to felony offense of illegal re-entry by an alien./ppThis case was investigated by Border Patrol and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Edward P. Grogan. /p