Mexican national gets prison for smuggling migrants, drugs to Central Coast in panga boat

Serena Guentz
·2 min read
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A 27-year-old Mexican national was sentenced Monday in federal court to more than nine years in prison for trafficking 11 undocumented people and 45 pounds of methamphetamine on a panga boat that landed on Santa Barbara County’s Arroyo Quemada Beach in September 2021.

The United Stated Department of Justice announced the sentence for Jorge Muñoz-Muñoz of Ensenada, Mexico, that was handed down by U.S. District Judge Dale S. Fischer.

At the end of a five-day trial that took place last December, Muñoz-Muñoz was found guilty of one count of conspiracy to bring aliens into the United States, 11 counts of alien smuggling, 11 counts of alien smuggling for private financial gain, one count of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine, one count of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, one count of conspiracy to import methamphetamine, and one count of importation of methamphetamine.

The captain of the panga boat, Roel Aranzubia-Álvarez, 45, of Sinaloa, Mexico, was also convicted of alien smuggling charges and was sentenced to five years in federal prison.

Meanwhile, 46-year-old Caín Camargo-López of Sinaloa, Mexico, a crew member of the boat, pleaded guilty in April 2022 to two counts of alien smuggling and one count of conspiracy to allow an alien convicted of aggravated felonies to enter the United States.

He was sentenced earlier this year to five years in federal prison.

According to the Department of Justice, the panga was found at Arroyo Quemada Beach, on the Gaviota Coast about 25 miles west of Santa Barbara, on Sept. 27, 2021, with 15 people on board and two black bags that contained a total of 40 vacuum-sealed and plastic wrapped bundles of methamphetamine totaling about 45 pounds.

Law enforcement said that the passengers arrived at a beach in Ensenada, Mexico, to board the panga, which would smuggle them into the United States for a price of approximately $15,000 each.

Assistant United States Attorney Haoxiaohan Cai of the General Crimes Section and Justice Department Trial Attorney Siobhan M. Namazi prosecuted the case.

The Department of Justice added that Homeland Security Investigations investigated the case and U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office, and the California Department of Parks and Recreation also provided assistance.