The semitruck driver who transported dozens of immigrants in his sweltering trailer this summer from Laredo to San Antonio — where police arrested him in a Walmart parking lot and later charged him in the deaths of 10 of the immigrants — pleaded guilty Monday to smuggling.
James Matthew Bradley, 61, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to transport aliens resulting in death and one count of transporting aliens resulting in death. He faces up to life in prison when he's sentenced by a federal judge in January.
On July 23, police responding to a call found the trailer in the parking lot of the Walmart on the South Side. Eight of the 39 undocumented immigrants at the scene were dead, and two later succumbed to heat-related injuries. The dead were from Ecuador, Guatemala and Mexico. Police found Bradley in the cab.
Immigrants interviewed by investigators said that anywhere from 70 to 200 people were crowded into the overheated trailer, with only one small vent for air, according to court documents. Some of the survivors got into waiting SUVS and disappeared after the truck arrived in San Antonio, according to police.
"Today's admission of guilt by Mr. Bradley helps to close the door on one of the conspirators responsible for causing the tragic loss of life and wreaking havoc on those who survived this horrific incident," said Shane M. Folden, the special agent in charge of Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations in San Antonio. "This case is a glaring reminder that alien smugglers are driven by greed and have little regard for the health and well-being of their human cargo, which can prove to be a deadly combination."
Bradley was one of two people charged in the case. Pedro Silva Segura, 46, was arrested in Laredo the day after the trailer was discovered on charges that he harbored immigrants in a safe house in that city. Last month, he was indicted in the same case as Bradley.
Silva could face the death penalty if convicted of conspiracy to transport and harbor undocumented immigrants for financial gain resulting in death and up to 20 years in prison if convicted of transporting and harboring undocumented aliens for financial gain resulting in serious bodily injury and placing lives in jeopardy.
Prosecutors in Laredo have dismissed the charges there, and Silva is awaiting transfer to San Antonio, where he'll face harsher potential penalties.
Federal officials meanwhile have shut down the Iowa trucking company that hired Bradley. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration issued an "out-of-service order" last week to Pyle Transportation after a review found that the company's safety rating was so unsatisfactory that it was unfit to remain in business.
Pyle Transportation owner Brian Pyle has denied knowledge of the alleged smuggling conspiracy. He has said he sold the trailer and hired Bradley, who had worked previously for the company, as a contractor to drive it to Brownsville to deliver it to the buyer.
Federal regulators launched a compliance review into the company, which had been operating with a "conditional" safety rating because of prior violations, after the human trafficking case.
Earlier this month, authorities identified the 10th victim as Flabio Cambo, 32, of Ecuador. Cambo, whose family in Ecuador had reported him missing, was carrying documents identifying him as being from Mexico, said Ruth María Dueñas de García, Ecuador's consul general in Houston.
Authorities were able to compare photos of Cambo with the unidentified victim and confirm that it was him, Dueñas said.
Source:
LMT online, Jason Buch, Guillermo Contreras, October 17, 2017
Truck driver pleads guilty in immigrant death case
The driver of a semitrailer packed with at least 39 immigrants, 10 of whom
died, has pleaded guilty to making the deadly smuggling run.
James Matthew Bradley Jr. pleaded guilty Monday in federal court in San Antonio
to 1 conspiracy count and a count of transporting the immigrants resulting in
death.
He faces up to life imprisonment when he's sentenced on Jan. 22.
Bradley could have faced the death penalty had he gone to trial.
Authorities say at least 39 immigrants were packed into the sweltering trailer
found by San Antonio police last July in a Walmart parking lot.
Its
refrigeration system wasn't working, and investigators say passengers had
difficulty breathing as temperatures climbed.
Temperatures in San Antonio topped at 101 degrees that day.
Source: The Associated Press, October 17, 2017
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