A Phoenix woman, Tonya Durinda Romero, has been sentenced to 33 months in prison after pleading guilty to Conspiracy to Transport Illegal Aliens.
According to her plea agreement, Romero had been involved in human trafficking beginning in October 2022, and up to her arrest on January 30, 2024. She admitted to harboring at least 25 and no more than 99 illegal aliens.
Romero admitted that she was a member of a conspiracy that transported undocumented noncitizens from southern Arizona to the Phoenix metropolitan area. She was involved in renting stash houses to harbor the noncitizens and providing vehicles to others to transport them further into the United States. Romero was stopped on January 30, 2024, by a Pinal County Sheriff’s Office deputy because her registration had expired; the deputy also determined that Romero was driving with a suspended license and had no insurance. Romero was arrested and transported to the Casa Grande Border Patrol station for an in-depth interview, during which she admitted to law enforcement that she had been involved in human smuggling since she was 16 years old.
The 37-year-old Romero’s prison sentence is to be followed by three years of supervised release.