SELLS, Ariz. — A Phoenix man was sentenced last week to 144 months in prison stemming from a deadly crash last March on the Tohono O’odham Nation.
Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s United States Border Patrol, and the Tohono O’odham Police Department conducted the investigation in this case.
“The defendant in this case senselessly took the life of innocent people while participating in human smuggling,” said HSI Arizona Special Agent in Charge Francisco B. Burrola. “Human smuggling activity is dangerous and at times deadly — let this be a warning to those looking to be smuggled into the U.S., you’re putting your lives in the hands of reckless smugglers who just don’t care about your safety. It’s just not worth it.”
Kevin Rojo-Barron, 21, of Phoenix, further pleaded guilty on July 18, to Conspiracy to Transport Illegal Aliens for Profit Resulting in Death, and Transportation of Illegal Aliens for Profit Resulting in Death.
On March 2, 2023, near Why, on the Tohono O’odham Nation, the Tohono O’odham Police Department and United States Border Patrol responded to a 911 call of a vehicle collision at the intersection of State Route 86 and Federal Route 1. Rojo-Barron was driving the vehicle traveling northbound on Federal Route 1 at a high rate of speed and failed to yield at a stop sign, striking a vehicle traveling eastbound on State Route 86. All three Tohono O’odham Nation members in the other vehicle died as result of the crash. Further investigation showed that Rojo-Barron was smuggling four undocumented noncitizens and had an AR-15 style rifle in the vehicle at the time of the crash. One of the undocumented noncitizens died due to the crash and another was permanently injured.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Michelle Y. Chamblee and Ryan P. DeJoe, District of Arizona, Tucson, handled the prosecution.