CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — A Houston man has been sentenced to more than six years in prison in a human smuggling case and wreck that left an illegal immigrant dead.
A federal judge in Corpus Christi on Wednesday sentenced 22-year-old Leonel Alvaro Abundis-Carreon. He pleaded guilty in August to conspiracy to transport 14 suspected illegal immigrants and to causing serious bodily injury to a person.
Border Patrol agents from Falfurrias (fal-FYOO'-ree-uhs) on Feb. 9 chased a pickup truck driven by Abundis-Carreon. Authorities say illegal immigrants were in the cab and the truck bed when the vehicle wrecked.
One passenger died. Several others were hurt.
Abundis-Carreon must pay more than $371,000 in total restitution to the family of the man who died and to several hospitals.
