A Mexican national who had been living in Houston, Texas, was sentenced to spend the rest of his life in a U.S. prison for human trafficking. He was also convicted of causing the death of at least one of the smuggled immigrants.
Noe Aranda-Soto pleaded guilty to federal charges in May and stood before District Court Judge John D. Rainey in Victoria, Texas, to hear his final sentencing. Judge Rainey ordered the Mexican national to spend life in prison, according to court records obtained by Breitbart Texas.
Aranda-Soto is an example of the dangers faced by those who choose to put themselves in the hands of human smugglers. As part of this plea agreement, he articulated the facts surrounding his case that have now resulted in his sentence of life-imprisonment. During a two-year period between 2010 and 2012, Aranda-Soto led a human smuggling operation with a focus on hostage taking. He would move the illegal immigrants who had paid thousands of dollars for his services from stash houses in the Rio Grande Valley to other homes in Houston.
In a 2010 incident, his brother was driving a vehicle loaded with human cargo. He lost control of the vehicle and rolled, causing the death of one person immediately. A second died from exposure after having been left behind in the brush. A third person still suffers from permanent disabilities after being in a coma for nearly a year.
Aranda-Soto was stopped by law enforcement a few days later but he fled and managed to avoid capture at that time. He later admitted to hostage holding in one of his Houston stash houses. A raid occurred on the Houston stash house but Aranda-Soto again escaped, this time by taking two female employees hostage. While they were driving on Interstate 10, he became agitated with the women and shot them repeatedly. The injured driver jumped from the vehicle and survived. The second woman was ejected from the vehicle when Aranda-Soto purposefully began driving erratically. After being ejected from the car, she was run over multiple times by other vehicles on the highway. She died from her injuries.
The Mexican national was eventually arrested at yet another human smuggling stash house in Houston. Aranda-Soto and all of his co-conspirators have now been convicted of their crimes.
Noe “Diablo” Aranda-Soto, now 36, will spend the remaining years of his life in a U.S. prison.
Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior political news contributor for Breitbart Texas. He is a founding member of the Breitbart Texas team. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX.