Riverside man sentenced to 10 years in prison as leader of fatal migrant smuggling conspiracy, DOJ reports

October 13, 2024 – SAN DIEGO, CA – Felipe de Jesus Rosales-Herrera of Riverside was sentenced in federal court The court on Friday imposed a 120-month prison sentence for leading a vast migrant smuggling ring responsible for illegally transporting more than 100 migrants and causing one death.

According to his plea deal, Rosales-Herrera used foot guides to lead migrants across the border and drivers to pick them up on the U.S. side and deliver them to a warehouse to meet a sponsor. Rosales-Herrera admitted charging about $10,000 per migrant. According to court documents, some of the smuggling events in the conspiracy resulted in high-speed chases and crashes, endangering the migrants, drivers, law enforcement officers and members of the public. This culminated in a tragic collision on December 25, 2021.

Rosales admitted in his plea deal that he and his co-conspirators continued the conspiracy even after learning that his driver had killed someone. As co-defendant John Douglas Oglesby III admitted in his plea deal, drivers were told to flee if Border Patrol tried to stop them. Unfortunately, many drivers did just that, resulting in numerous high-speed chases and several crashes.

During the 2021 Christmas Day event, Kevin Antonio Quevedo-Moncada, acting under the supervision of co-suspect (and Rosales’ subordinate in the smuggling ring) Jose Luis Alejo-Cruz, picked up three undocumented migrants in a remote area. When Border Patrol tried to pull him over, Quevedo-Moncada fled to a nearby campsite, waving wildly and weaving through a field at high speed before ramming a Border Patrol vehicle to escape. As officers chased him, he sped away on wet, winding roads, reaching speeds of almost 100 miles per hour. Quevedo-Moncada lost control of his car and crashed into a tree, killing one of the migrants and leaving the other two in critical condition. Quevedo-Moncada pleaded guilty to the charges related to this incident. Alejo-Cruz discussed the smuggling event with Rosales before the crash. Shortly after the accident, Rosales sent Alejo-Cruz a news article about the accident and confirmed that it was their driver.

Alejo-Cruz also relied on intimidation to maintain his position, tracking down and robbing two of his former drivers at gunpoint when he felt they had wronged him and plotting to kidnap a rival migrant smuggler.

“You traded in people’s lives, traded in people… to line your own pockets” U.S. District Judge Cathy Ann Bencivengo told the defendant during Friday’s hearing. “The worst-case scenario of alien smuggling, where someone died, didn’t deter you.” Judge Bencivengo ultimately ruled that the appropriate sentence was “full and fair the statutory maximum.”

‘These smugglers viewed migrants as dollar signs, not as people’ said U.S. Attorney Tara McGrath. “This important sentence shows how important it is to protect the public from the reckless tactics of criminal networks.”

“This event highlights the danger that these criminal organizations pose to the migrants they transport, and to the general public.” said U.S. Border Patrol Agent Patrica McGurk-Daniel, chief patrol agent for the San Diego Sector. “This outcome is the result of a joint effort between Border Patrol agents and the U.S. Attorney’s Office to dismantle human smuggling networks and bring those responsible to justice. Today’s sentencing sends a clear message; If you smuggle people across our borders, you will face serious consequences.”

Co-defendants Alejo-Cruz and Oglesby were previously sentenced to 120 months and 70 months in prison, respectively. The final defendant, Miguel Isaac Villa-Gomez, is expected to be sentenced on December 6, 2024.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul Benjamin.

Defendants Case Number 23-CR-871-CAB

Felipe de Jesus Rosales-Herrera Age: 38 Riverside County, CA

Jose Luis Alejo-Cruz Age: 23 Long Beach, CA

John Douglas Oglesby III Age: 20 Chesapeake, VA

Miguel Isaac Villa-Gomez Age: 27 Downey, CA

Case number 22-CR-1995-B__

John Douglas Oglesby III Age: 20 Chesapeake, VA

SUMMARY OF COSTS

Conspiracy to Transport Aliens – Title 8, USC, Section 1324

Maximum penalty: 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine

RESEARCH OFFICE

United States Border Patrol

Source: DOJ release