The last of 18 defendants tied to a violent Arizona-based human smuggling ring has been sentenced, federal officials announced.
On Nov. 21, U.S. District Judge Krissa Lanham in the District of Arizona imposed the final sentence in a case investigated jointly by U.S. Border Patrol and the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Authorities say the organization known as La Mesa operated in Yuma and Somerton on behalf of the Mexico-based transnational criminal group Los Rusos. Investigators connected the group to a series of smuggling operations spanning Arizona and parts of California.
According to prosecutors, members of La Mesa smuggled or attempted to smuggle hundreds of undocumented migrants across the U.S.–Mexico border. The organization’s leader Carlos Moreno-Serrano directed managers who coordinated transport operations, secured stash houses, moved money and enforced internal discipline.
Between 2022 and September 2024, the group used violence and threats to control its network, including kidnappings, assaults and extortion of individuals working within the smuggling pipeline.
In one January 2023 incident, several members kidnapped a man, took him into the desert, filmed the encounter and were seen brandishing a firearm while threatening to kill him. In another case later that year, members abducted a woman who had been caught transporting undocumented migrants and demanded repayment for the organization’s losses. She told police she was threatened with being taken to Mexico to be tortured, killed or forced into marriage before officers intervened.
La Mesa members also fled law enforcement at high speeds, causing injuries to multiple undocumented migrants who were being transported. In one pursuit, a juvenile driver crashed a work van into a water canal, injuring 24 people including a child and a pregnant woman.
The defendants were charged in late 2023 and 2024 with conspiring to harbor and transport undocumented migrants. Sentences ranged from probation and supervised release to significant prison terms. Moreno-Serrano received the longest sentence at 90 months in federal prison.
U.S. Attorney Timothy Courchaine said the violence involved demonstrates the danger of smuggling organizations. Acting Yuma Sector Chief Patrol Agent Dustin Caudle praised the collaborative effort, saying the sentences send a clear message that such criminal activity will be aggressively prosecuted.
The investigation was conducted by multiple Border Patrol intelligence units, with prosecution handled by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Ross Arellano Edwards and Stuart Zander.