Jury convicts Honduran woman of transporting undocumented immigrant in Montana

MISSOULA, Mont. — A federal jury has found a Honduran woman guilty of illegally reentering the United States and transporting a Mexican national who was in the country unlawfully, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

After a three-day trial, jurors convicted 41-year-old Yolanda Ernestina Soto-Antunez on charges of being in the United States illegally and transporting an undocumented immigrant.

Soto-Antunez faces up to five years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release. Chief U.S. District Judge Brian M. Morris is scheduled to sentence her on July 9. She remains in custody pending sentencing.

According to prosecutors, a Phillips County sheriff’s deputy stopped Soto-Antunez for speeding on U.S. Highway 2 near Malta on March 6. After requesting assistance from U.S. Border Patrol agents to help translate, authorities determined Soto-Antunez was a Honduran citizen in the country illegally and that her passenger, a Mexican national, was also in the United States unlawfully.

Investigators said they discovered $18,000 in a duffel bag belonging to the passenger. The man told agents he was traveling to Washington to borrow an additional $12,000 from a relative, bringing the total to $30,000. According to court testimony, the money was intended to pay for his sister to be smuggled into the United States, and Soto-Antunez was expected to deliver the funds to a group in Tijuana, Mexico.

Federal authorities also determined Soto-Antunez had previously been deported in June 2012 and illegally reentered the United States in August 2016.

The case was investigated by the U.S. Border Patrol, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Phillips County Sheriff’s Office. The U.S. Attorney’s Office prosecuted the case.