Washington Residents Convicted of Transporting Illegal Immigrants from Canada through Lincoln County
Miguel Angel Medina and Leslie Patricia Rivera on Aug. 24 were convicted of transportation of illegal immigrants in U.S. District Court
By Maggie Dresser
Two Washington residents suspected of picking up six Mexican nationals who crossed illegally into the United States from Canada through a remote area in Lincoln County were convicted today of charges in U.S. District Court, U.S. Attorney Jesse Laslovich said.
Miguel Angel Medina, 62, of Seattle was convicted of transportation of illegal aliens by a federal jury following a two-day trial that began on Aug. 22. Co-defendant Leslie Patricia Rivera, 51, of Seattle pleaded guilty on Aug. 22 before the trial began to transportation of undocumented noncitizens.
Rivera and Medina face a maximum of 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release.
“Rivera and Medina, motivated by money, transported six illegal Mexican nationals who walked across the border in the middle of winter to be picked up in the middle of nowhere,” U.S. Attorney Laslovich said. “We will continue working with law enforcement to secure our border with Canada and will prosecute those who engage in this dangerous smuggling activity that exploits vulnerable people.”
According to court documents and testimony, Rivera and Medina picked up six illegal immigrants who had just crossed the international border from Canada in the Green Basin area of the West Kootenai near Rexford in Lincoln County, where there is no port of entry.
The duo had left Seattle in a rented car the prior day and drove straight through. A friend of Rivera’s offered her $3,500 to pick up four people and drive them back to Seattle and she paid Medina $1,000 to accompany her. At the time of Rivera’s arrest, she had received partial payment, records state.
At approximately 5 a.m. on Jan. 19, a U.S. Border Patrol agent was notified of an attempted illegal crossing into the United States and stopped an SUV, which Rivera was driving with Medina in the passenger seat, with a Washington license plate on a U.S. Forest Service road. There were six other occupants in the vehicle, who acknowledged being from Mexico and in the country illegally, according to documents.
All eight suspects were transported to the Eureka Border Patrol Station for processing. The six illegal immigrants claimed to have paid between $1,800 and $7,324 to be smuggled into the United States.
U.S. District Judge Dana L. Christensen presided over the case.