ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A federal judge sentenced two people from Mexico who served as guides in a human smuggling operation that led to a woman’s death in New Mexico.
Gustavo Joachin-Hernandez, 37, and Israel Gonzalez-Cruz, 36, each pleaded guilty to a charge of “conspiracy to transport an illegal alien.” A judge sentenced them each to three years and 10 months in prison.
U.S. Border Patrol agents in Santa Teresa initially found around a dozen people hiding in the desert, Aug. 7, near New Mexico State Road 9. All of them allegedly entered the country illegally without proper documentation…