PHOENIX — A Mexican man was recently sentenced to over a year in prison for smuggling undocumented migrants and assaulting a U.S. Border Patrol agent in early 2025, authorities said.
Efrain Pacheco-Ovalles, 30, worked as a scout for a transnational criminal organization in January and February of last year, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona.
He pleaded guilty to assaulting a federal officer and conspiring to transport undocumented migrants for the purpose of commercial advantage or private financial gain.
What did human smuggler who assaulted Border Patrol agent do?
The sentencing stemmed from a series of crimes he committed on Feb. 4, 2025, on Nine Mile Mountain, which is in a remote area of the Tohono O’odham Indian Nation. Agents found him hiding under a tree, after which he fled down the mountain…