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Gulfport, Miss. – Carlos Manuel Legra-Ramirez, 43, a citizen of Cuba and a Legal Permanent Resident of the United States living in Georgia, was sentenced Friday by U.S District Court Judge Sul Ozerden to 18 months in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for conspiracy to transport illegal aliens within the United States, announced U.S. Attorney Mike Hurst, Jere T. Miles, Special Agent-in-Charge of Homeland Security Investigations in New Orleans, and Gregory K. Bovino, Chief Patrol Agent of the U.S. Border Patrol’s New Orleans Sector.
Legra-Ramirez was also ordered to pay $3,100 in fines and special assessment. He pled guilty before Judge Ozerden on June 1, 2018.
On February 6, 2018, on Interstate 10 in Harrison County, the United States Border Patrol conducted a traffic stop of a Toyota Highlander Sport Utility Vehicle (“SUV”) displaying a Georgia license plate registered to Legra-Ramirez. The SUV contained 10 illegal aliens, for a total of eleven occupants (including the driver), even though the SUV only had seatbelts to lawfully seat seven occupants. Legra-Ramirez was the driver of the vehicle. Further investigation also revealed that on August 31, 2013, Legra-Ramirez had been stopped on I-10 near Lake City, Florida, driving a vehicle with 6 illegal alien passengers.
After interviewing the passengers in Legra-Ramirez’s vehicle on February 6, 2018, all claimed to be citizens and nationals of other countries illegally present in the United States. Legra-Ramirez, and all passengers were arrested and transported to the Gulfport Border Patrol Station.
U.S. Attorney Hurst praised the cooperation exhibited by the Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations, and the U.S. Border Patrol. Assistant United States Attorney Stan Harris was the prosecutor for the case.
