Defendant in fatal tractor-trailer human smuggling incident pleads guilty following HSI San Antonio, federal partner investigation

SAN ANTONIO — One of the defendants in the deadly June 2022 tractor-trailer human smuggling incident pleaded guilty Sept. 27 to multiple criminal counts arising from the event. Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), with the assistance of various federal and state law enforcement agencies in South Texas, is investigating the case.

Christian Martinez, 29, of Palestine, entered a plea of guilty to one count of conspiracy to transport noncitizens resulting in death; one count of conspiracy to transport noncitizens resulting in serious bodily injury and placing lives in jeopardy; one count of transportation of noncitizens resulting in death; and one count of transportation of noncitizens resulting in serious bodily injury and placing lives in jeopardy.

Martinez and his co-defendant, Homero Zamorano Jr., 47, of Elkhart — the tractor-trailer’s driver — were initially charged by indictment on July 20, 2022. Four other co-defendants were identified and charged in a superseding indictment on June 7, 2023: Riley Covarrubias-Ponce aka Rrili aka Rilay, 30; Felipe Orduna-Torres aka Cholo aka Chuequito/Chuekito aka Negro, 29; Luis Alberto Rivera-Leal aka Cowboy, 38; and Armando Gonzales-Ortega aka El Don aka Don Gon, 54.

The indictment alleges that in the days leading up to June 27, 2022, Covarrubias-Ponce, Orduna-Torres and others exchanged the names of undocumented noncitizens who would be smuggled in an upcoming tractor-trailer load. The four additional defendants charged in the superseding indictment allegedly orchestrated the retrieval of an empty tractor-trailer and its corresponding handoff to the driver on June 27.

According to the superseding indictment, Martinez drove Zamorano from Palestine to San Antonio, where Zamorano picked up the empty tractor-trailer. Orduna-Torres allegedly provided the Laredo, Texas, address at which Zamorano loaded the migrants into the tractor trailer. The indictment also alleges that Gonzalez-Ortega traveled to Laredo to meet the tractor-trailer, where at least 66 undocumented individuals — including eight children and one pregnant woman — were loaded for smuggling. Martinez, Covarrubias-Ponce, Orduna-Torres, Rivera-Leal and Gonzales-Ortega then coordinated, facilitated, passed messages and made each other aware of the tractor-trailer’s progress.

Martinez is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 4, 2024, and faces a maximum penalty of life in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys for the Western District of Texas Eric Fuchs, Sarah Spears and Amanda Brown are prosecuting the case.

These charges resulted in coordination with Joint Task Force Alpha (JTFA). The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas is part of the JTFA, which was established by Attorney General Merrick B. Garland in June 2021 to marshal the investigative and prosecutorial resources of the Department of Justice, in partnership with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), to enhance U.S. enforcement efforts against the most prolific and dangerous human smuggling and trafficking groups operating in Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras. The Task Force focuses on disrupting and dismantling smuggling and trafficking networks that abuse, exploit, or endanger migrants, pose national security threats, and are involved in organized crime. JTFA consists of federal prosecutors and attorneys from U.S. Attorneys’ Offices along the Southwest Border (District of Arizona, Southern District of California, Southern District of Texas, and Western District of Texas), from the Criminal Division and the Civil Rights Division, along with law enforcement agents and analysts from DHS’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and Customs and Border Protection’s U.S. Border Patrol, the FBI and the Drug Enforcement Administration.

HSI San Antonio continues to address the serious public safety threat posed by human smuggling organizations and their reckless disregard for the health and safety of the people they exploit. To report suspicious smuggling activity, you are urged to call 866-347-2423.

HSI is the principal investigative arm of DHS, responsible for investigating transnational crime and threats, specifically those criminal organizations that exploit the global infrastructure through which international trade, travel, and finance move. HSI’s workforce of more than 8,700 employees consists of more than 6,000 special agents assigned to 237 cities throughout the United States, and 93 overseas locations in 56 countries. HSI’s international presence represents DHS’s largest investigative law enforcement presence abroad and one of the largest international footprints in U.S. law enforcement.

An indictment is merely an allegation and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.