A 70-year-old Tucson man, Michael Ortiz, was sentenced to 33 months in prison after pleading guilty to Transportation of Illegal Aliens for Profit. Ortiz also was sentenced to 12 months of consecutive imprisonment for violating conditions of his federal supervised release, which was imposed for the defendant’s 2018 alien smuggling conviction.
Ortiz’s prison sentence is to be followed by three years of supervised release.
According to the Department of Justice, on July 21, 2022, Ortiz was encountered by United States Border Patrol agents while transporting four individuals who were illegally in the United States. Ortiz failed to yield to agents, traveled at speeds of 90 miles-per-hour, and evaded law enforcement for approximately 30 minutes. He was apprehended after his vehicle became stuck near a wash on a dirt road.
Customs and Border Protection’s U.S. Border Patrol conducted the investigation in this case.