ALBANY, NEW YORK - Maria Angelica Cruz Lancheros, also known as Coral Marisol Tovar-Flores, age 42, and a Mexican citizen living in Corona, New York, was sentenced today to 63 months in prison, to be followed by a 3-year period of supervised release, for aiding and assisting an illegal alien previously convicted of an aggravated felony to enter the United States.
The announcement was made by United States Attorney Grant C. Jaquith and Robert N. Garcia, Chief Patrol Agent, United States Border Patrol, Swanton Sector.
On May 5, 2017, Cruz Lancheros travelled from New York City to Fort Covington, New York, with Jose Cardona Brito, in an attempt to help Jose Idarraga Lozano sneak into the United States from Canada. They were unsuccessful on May 5, and tried again the next day.
Cruz Lancheros and Cardona Brito met with and picked up Idarraga Lozano along the border near Fort Covington late on the night of May 6, 2017. As they were leaving the border area, they were stopped and arrested by Border Patrol Agents on New York State Route 11 near Burke, New York. Idarraga Lozano was inadmissible for entry into the United States, as he had been convicted of an aggravated felony, for drug trafficking, in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey, in 2007, and removed to Colombia in 2009.
On May 9, 2019, Jose Cardona Brito, age 43, a citizen of Colombia residing in Jackson Heights, New York, was also convicted of helping an aggravated felon illegally enter the United States, and sentenced to time served (24 months in jail), followed by 1 year of supervised release. Jose Idarraga Lozano, age 34, of Colombia, pled guilty to the felony offense of illegal re-entry by an alien and was sentenced on March 28, 2018 to 16 months in prison, to be followed by 1 year of supervised release.
This case was investigated by Border Patrol and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Edward P. Grogan.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
