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A 26-year-old McAllen man has been sentenced to nearly 40 years in prison for holding people in the country illegally at gunpoint while extorting their families for money for their release.
U.S. District Judge Micaela Alvarez sentenced Heriberto Mendez-Lozano on Tuesday to 38 years in prison on multiple counts of hostage taking, smuggling and weapons charges, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the southern district of Texas announced in a news release.
He was found guilty on Nov. 8, 2023 after a three-day trial. The jury deliberated for less than an hour.
During the trial, jurors heard how on Sept. 29, 2022, Mendez-Lozano, of McAllen, Lorenzo Campbell, 23, of Pharr, and Heriberto Aguirre, 25, of Mission, were engaged in smuggling people from the Rio Grande into the United States.
On that day, the trio was harboring five people in the country illegally, but instead of transporting them further north, they held them against their will at a location in Donna, according to the release.
“There, Mendez-Lozano and Aguirre brandished firearms, held guns to the heads and ribs of hostages, threatened the hostages and forced them to call family members to demand money for their release,” the news release stated.
An investigation then led law enforcement to that Donna location where they arrested Mendez-Lozano and Campbell.
“Authorities also rescued the hostages from the scene,” the release stated. “Aguirre was arrested at a nearby motel.”
During the sentencing hearing, Alvarez, the judge, heard additional evidence that detailed how the violent threats had a lasting impact on the victims. Due to Mendez-Lozano’s violent criminal history in addition to the violent threats in the case, Alvarez noted he deserved a lengthy sentence.
Alamdar S. Hamdani, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas, said smugglers like Mendez-Lozano tend to graduate to hostage taking.
“He and others asserted control over the migrants and held them at gunpoint, subjecting them to trauma and terror over the course of several days,” Hamdani said in a statement. “They used fear to force the migrants’ families to pay money for their release.”
Hamdani called the sentence a “small measure of justice” for Mendez-Lozano’s “heinous acts.”
Craig Larrabee, special agent in charge for Homeland Security Investigations San Antonio, condemned smugglers who exploit the vulnerabilities of people in the country illegally with threats and acts of violence.
“HSI is at the forefront of investigating these human smugglers who attempt to plague the southwest border,” Larrabee said in a statement. “We remain committed to bringing to justice the criminal organizations who prey on the vulnerable with no regard for the well-being of the people they smuggle.”
Alvarez previously sentenced Campbell to 1 1/2 years in prison and Aguirre to 20 years in prison, according to the release.
