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GOLDEN — A 35-year-old man has been sentenced to four years in prison for smuggling nine people into the United States.
Bernardino Fuentes-Espinoza was found guilty in March on seven counts of smuggling humans under a year-old state law.
“We are very pleased with this sentence,” said Jefferson County District Attorney Scott Storey. “This is only the second of our human-smuggling cases in which the judge has imposed a prison sentence. This was the first human-smuggling case to go to trial in Colorado. Without witnesses who were smuggled, these cases can be very difficult to prosecute at trial.”
Judge M.J. Menendez noted the danger involved for those being transported in vehicles designed to carry far fewer passengers.
