Houston man gets 10 years for human smuggling

  HOUSTON -- A Houston man has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for his role in a human smuggling ring.

Prosecutors in McAllen on Wednesday announced the sentence for 47-year-old Adan Gutierrez-Mendez.

Jurors in April convicted Gutierrez-Mendez of conspiracy to harbor and harboring immigrants for profit.

Two women testified they made arrangements with smugglers in Guatemala to travel through Mexico and reach Texas. Both women told jurors that they were transported to a trailer in McAllen and sexually assaulted, but the pair managed to escape.

The women say Gutierrez-Mendez was not the man who attacked them, but they identified him as the person in charge.

Gutierrez-Mendez denied being in the trailer or knowing the women.

(Copyright ©2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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