Honduran woman sentenced to more than 10 years in prison for human trafficking

PHOENIX — A Honduran woman was sentenced Tuesday to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to human trafficking, authorities said.

A judge sentenced Maria Mendoza-Mendoza, 52, to 120 months in prison, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Arizona.

She led a criminal organization that smuggled more than 100 migrants from Honduras to the United States, prosecutors said.

Many of those migrants were taken to operated hideouts in Phoenix, authorities said.

Mendoza-Mendoza preyed on vulnerable migrants by threatening them, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Arizona.

Honduran woman threatened migrants she smuggled, prosecutors say

Mendoza-Mendoza used threats to intimidate migrants into paying their smuggling fees, prosecutors said.

His organization used funnel accounts to collect millions of dollars in smuggling fees, authorities said.

Mendoza-Mendoza allegedly held migrants in Phoenix hideouts until they paid, using threats and intimidation to achieve his ends.

For example, she once said that a migrant whose family hadn't paid his smuggling fees should be sent back “to the wilderness,” prosecutors said.

Mendoza was indicted in January 2018 before her extradition from Honduras to the United States in June 2023.

Officials said the Honduran also had the nickname “La Guera,” which loosely translates to “white girl.”

Mendoza-Mendoza's crimes were insidious, according to Fransisco B. Burrola, a special agent with Homeland Security Investigations.

“Smugglers do nothing but prey on vulnerable people who sometimes pay with their lives crossing the border,” Burrola said in a press release. “Let this sentence serve as a warning to other smugglers who consider continuing to participate: prison awaits. »