BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) - Two men charged in connection with the largest human smuggling case in memory on the Vermont-Quebec border have reached plea agreements with federal prosecutors.
The Vermont office of the United States Attorney says that 30-year-old Alberto Alvarado-Castro, a Mexican citizen, were arrested Oct. 7 last year in Vermont after Alvarado Castro guided 11 Guatemalan citizens and three people from Mexico into the United States from Canada.
Alvarado-Castro was sentenced to three years in prison while 26-year-old Honduran Hector Perez-Alvarado was sentenced to time served.
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Prosecutors say the two were lower-level couriers in the smuggling operation, but Alvarado-Castro was the leader of the two.
The group of 16 was arrested at a Derby motel by Border Patrol agents.
Attorneys for the two men did not return a call seeking comment.
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