HOUSTON – A sixth and final human smuggler was convicted Dec. 12 for his role in a horrifyingly brutal human smuggling scheme that resulted in the murder of two migrants who were unable to pay their smuggling fees.
Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Houston, the Houston Police Department and the Fort Bend County (Texas) Sheriff’s Office conducted the investigation that led to the convictions.
Efrain Rodriguez-Mendoza, a 38-year-old Mexican citizen illegally residing in Houston, pleaded guilty Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas to conspiracy to transport and harbor noncitizens resulting in death.
“In my 29 years working in law enforcement, I’ve unfortunately had to witness some unspeakable horrors, but what these men did to these migrants is pure evil and among the most reprehensible and vile criminal actions I’ve ever encountered,” said HSI Houston Special Agent in Charge Chad Plantz. “Thanks to the dedicated special agents and law enforcement officers who tirelessly worked to uncover their identities and connect them to these crimes, they will be held accountable for their actions, but I plead with anyone thinking of relying on human smugglers to illegally enter the United States to stop and think about the potential consequences. Not only are you jeopardizing your ability to ever obtain legal status in the country, you’re putting your life in the hands of merciless transnational criminal organizations that routinely assault, kidnap and even murder the people they are paid to supposedly help.”
Between Nov. 6-17, 2006, Rodriguez-Mendoza and Wilmar Rene Duran-Gomez, a 52-year-old illegally present Salvadoran national, engaged in a scheme together and with others to harbor migrants in Houston. They would then transport them to locations within Texas and throughout the United States for the purpose of financial gain.
Duran-Gomez, who pleaded guilty for his role on Dec. 9, operated a warehouse business in Houston where conspirators held migrants until they paid their smuggling fees or had transportation arranged. While held there, they were placed in two groups - paid and unpaid. Those in the unpaid group were beaten and accused of trying to escape the warehouse. They were also not given food or water or even allowed to use the restroom. Some had all of their cloths taken from them and their hands bound.
The smugglers would call the migrants families to demand payment of smuggling fees. During the call they would tell them that the migrants were being beaten and would be killed if the fees were not paid. Two of those in the unpaid group were subjected to the most brutal of the beatings and died as a result of days of assaults.
Following the deaths, Rodriguez-Mendoza, Duran-Gomez and another smuggler involved in the scheme, wrapped the two victims with blankets, loaded them onto a truck and doused the bodies with gasoline. They then drove and parked the truck in a field in Fort Bend County and attempted to set it on fire, but failed. They left the truck in the field with the victims’ bodies inside the vehicle. Authorities located the victims approximately Nov. 16, 2006.
Rodriguez-Mendoza and Duran-Gomez are scheduled to be sentenced in March 2025. At that time, they face up to life in federal prison and up to $250,000 in fines. Both men will remain in custody pending that hearing.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jill Jenkins Stotts and Lisa M. Collins prosecuted the case.
For more news and information on HSI’s efforts to investigate human smuggling and other transnational criminal activity in Southeast Texas follow us on X, formerly known as Twitter, @HSIHouston.