Like father, like son. Leonardo Davila Sr. pleaded guilty Thursday in a Corpus Christi federal court to attempting to smuggle 68 people in a tractor trailer filled with onions, a case that bears similarities to one his son faced earlier this summer.
In June, Leonardo Davila Jr. also pleaded guilty to a nearly identical charge where he attempted to smuggle 73 people through the Border Patrol checkpoint in Falfurrias. In that case, Davila Jr. was also accused of smuggling people in a trailer full of onions.
On May 4, 2021, border agents stopped his dad, Davila Sr., at the Falfurrias checkpoint after his vehicle alerted a K-9 unit. When they searched the vehicle they found a total of 68 people in the trailer hiding among pallets of onions, according to a United States Attorney’s Office news release.
Authorities determined the people to be from Honduras, El Salvador, Mexico, Guatemala and Peru.
Sentencing for Davila Sr., who previously pleaded not guilty to the charges he just pleaded guilty to on Thursday, is scheduled for Oct. 13 before U.S. District Judge Nelva Gonzalez Ramos. He currently faces up to five years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000 and will remain in custody pending the hearing.
Davila Jr. also remains in custody and is scheduled for sentencing on Aug. 24, and faces five years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.
