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A 35-year-old Mission man has been sentenced to prison after pleading guilty to two counts of murder and one count of evading arrest following the deaths of two people he was attempting to smuggle a day after Thanksgiving in 2021, according to court documents.
Mario Oscar Maldonado was sentenced to 20 years in prison Wednesday for the deaths of Jose Angel Ramirez Lopez and Roberto Leon Feliciano after Maldonado lost control of his vehicle.
On Nov. 26, 2021, the Texas Department of Public Safety attempted to pull over Maldonado, who was driving a black Ford F-150, after authorities received information that the vehicle was possibly picking up 20 people who had entered the country illegally.
At the time, a trooper overheard DPS communications regarding a black or green pick-up truck that has possibly picked up people illegally present in the United States.
That trooper spotted the vehicle and attempted to pull the black Ford F-150 over for failing to signal the required distance before turning, and a pursuit ensued.
“The vehicle traveled northbound onto a dirt road where the driver later lost control of his vehicle and had a roll-over crash,” an affidavit stated.
The crash occurred on Jara China Road north of Farm-to-Market Road 2221, which is north of La Joya.
A news release from DPS stated that Maldonado was driving at an unsafe speed before losing control.
Ramirez and Feliciano were in the truck bed when Maldonado lost control.
Maldonado and nine other people were taken to hospitals following the crash. He was booked into county jail the following day after being released from the hospital.
Maldonado faced a 26-count indictment for the deadly crash, but court records indicate he reached a plea deal with prosecutors and received a 20-year sentence on Wednesday.
He has more than two years in jail credit.
