FRESNO, Calif. — Martin Carranza-Sanchez, 45, of Mexico, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Dale A. Drozd to a six years and six months in prison and three years of supervised release for conspiracy to commit wire fraud in a scheme to defraud Mexican citizens seeking to enter the U.S. without documentation and their relatives living in the United States, U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced.
According to his plea agreement and other court documents, between January 2010 and January 21, 2016, Carranza-Sanchez posed as an undocumented immigrant smuggler (also known as a “coyote”) who falsely promised undocumented immigrants and their U.S.‑resident relatives that he would deliver the immigrants into the United States for a fee. Carranza-Sanchez directed the U.S. residents to wire the fee to various bank accounts in the Eastern District of California, which he and his co-conspirators ultimately collected.
Carranza-Sanchez, however, never intended to help the immigrants enter the United States without being detected. In fact, on multiple occasions, after the immigrants arrived at the Mexico location designated by Carranza-Sanchez, his co-conspirators detained them against their will until their relatives wired Carranza-Sanchez’s fee. Also, on multiple occasions, Carranza-Sanchez and his co-conspirators told the U.S. residents that the immigrants would be harmed if the U.S. residents did not pay immediately. In many instances, once the relatives wired the fee, Carranza-Sanchez instructed the immigrants to cross the border without him, at which point the immigrants were immediately apprehended by U.S. Border Patrol.
The investigation revealed that Carranza-Sanchez and his co-conspirators defrauded U.S. residents of approximately $95,000 as a result of their scheme. He was ordered today to repay that amount to the victims of his crimes.
U.S. Attorney Talbert stated, “While smuggling undocumented immigrants is a crime, falsely claiming to do so in order to obtain payments from relatives in the United States is also a crime—fraud. Carranza-Sanchez’s fraud scheme targeted the immigrants’ relatives living in the United States, and he exploited them further by threatening to harm the immigrants if the fee wasn’t paid immediately. This criminal conduct is unacceptable, and we will continue to investigate and prosecute those who engage in it.”
This case was the product of an investigation by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). Assistant U.S. Attorney Angela L. Scott prosecuted the case.