Man sentenced 16 months for role in deadly human-smuggling attempt

SAN DIEGO, Calif. (KESQ) - One of five people charged by federal prosecutors for their roles in a maritime human-smuggling event that led to the deaths of four people -- including two children -- off the coast of northern San Diego County earlier this year was sentenced today to 16 months in prison.   

The mass-casualty accident involved a boat loaded with 19 people that left Mexico on May 4, then capsized off the coast of Del Mar the following day.   

Emergency crews responding to the incident found the bodies of 18-year-old Marcos Lozada-Juarez, 55-year-old Gorgonio Placido-Diaz, and 14-year-old Prince Patel. Prince's 10-year-old sister, Mahi, also died, but her remains were not discovered until a few weeks later.

Several other occupants of the boat -- including the childrens' parents -- were hospitalized for injuries ranging in severity from minor to critical.

Two defendants were arrested on the beach, while three others were arrested in vehicles that had picked up some of the migrants who arrived on the vessel.

The two accused of piloting the boat -- Jesus Ivan Rodriguez-Leyva and Julio Cesar Zuniga-Luna -- await trial, while the other three defendants have pleaded guilty.

The first defendant to face sentencing, Sergio Rojas-Fregoso, 31, admitted in a plea agreement to guiding some of the migrants who arrived on shore to vehicles, while also transporting some migrants from the scene in his own car. The plea agreement states that one migrant said he paid $13,000 to be smuggled into the United States.   

Prosecutors allege that when the vehicle Rojas-Fregoso was driving was spotted by Border Patrol agents in Chula Vista, he fled. After his arrest, he claimed he was one of the passengers being transported during the smuggling event, according to prosecutors.

Rojas-Fregoso's co-defendants are slated for sentencing next month.   

The sentencing comes two days after a similar incident off the coast of Imperial Beach saw a panga boat capsize, leading to the deaths of four people aboard.