A woman who drove her husband from Moreno Valley to Mexico weeks before he was slated to be sentenced for entering the U.S. illegally for the fifth time in 15 years was convicted Friday of making false statements to federal marshals.
Following a three-day trial at U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, a jury found 36-year-old Elba Soto guilty of the federal charge, but acquitted her of being an accessory in a felon’s flight from justice.
U.S. District Judge Michael Fitzgerald scheduled a Feb. 27 sentencing hearing for Soto, who is facing five years in prison. She remains in custody without bail at a federal detention facility in Los Angeles.
The two-count indictment against the defendant was announced in October, about two months after her husband, Jose Guadalupe Vega Zuniga, fled south across the border — with Soto driving him in her Ford F-150 pickup truck, according to federal prosecutors.
Zuniga, whose prior convictions include drug trafficking and assault with a deadly weapon, was deported from the U.S. in 2000, 2002, 2005 and 2008, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
The Mexican national was apprehended last May in Moreno Valley, returning to Soto’s residence. It’s unclear how long he had been in the country illegally by that time. He was only stopped because Riverside County sheriff’s deputies suspected that he was driving under the influence, according to court papers.
On Aug. 3, Zuniga pleaded guilty to illegally re-entering the United States. Soto, who has two children with Zuniga, helped him post a $100,000 bond ahead of his Oct. 17 sentencing hearing, during which he was facing just over five years behind bars.
On Aug. 18, Soto drove Zuniga to the Otay Mesa port, where the couple crossed into Mexico and apparently flew together to Zuniga’s hometown of Zacatecas, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Soto later returned to Moreno Valley without him.
She took a GPS ankle monitor, which Zuniga was ordered to wear as part of his pre-sentencing agreement, back to his probation officer, telling authorities that she had no idea where her husband had gone.
On Sept. 6, two marshals interviewed Soto about her travels to Mexico, specifically asking whether she had transported Zuniga across the border. According to prosecutors, the woman insisted that only she and her children were in the pickup truck.
However, when investigators obtained surveillance video from the Otay Mesa crossing, they were able to clearly identify Zuniga in the passenger seat and Soto at the wheel, court papers state.
His whereabouts remain unknown.
— City News Service