Defendant sentenced to 14 years in Texas smuggling

HOUSTON (AP) — A federal judge has sentenced the last of more than a dozen people indicted for their roles in the deadliest human smuggling attempt in U.S. history to 14 years in prison.

Octavio Torres-Ortega admitted his guilt and apologized for the smuggling attempt at a hearing in Houston federal court today.

Prosecutors said he was part of a smuggling ring that packed more than 70 illegal immigrants into the back of a stifling tractor-trailer in May 2003 and tried to transport them from southern Texas to Houston.

The immigrants were found after the driver abandoned the trailer at a truck stop in Victoria, about 100 miles southwest of Houston.

Seventeen people were found dead in the trailer and two others died later of dehydration, overheating and suffocation.