Mexican faces sentencing in Texas 2003 illegal immigrant smuggling attempt that left 19 dead

Mexican faces sentencing in Texas people smuggling

HOUSTON — A Mexican man faces sentencing in Houston in an illegal immigrant smuggling attempt that left 19 people dead.

Octavio Torres-Ortega of San Luis Potosi, Mexico, is scheduled to be sentenced Monday.

Torres-Ortega pleaded guilty in 2008 to conspiring to harbor and transport aliens illegally in the United States resulting in death and serious bodily injury. Prosecutors say the victims were abandoned in a sweltering tractor-trailer near Victoria in May 2003.

Torres-Ortega is the last of 14 defendants to be sentenced in the case, the deadliest human smuggling attempt in U.S. history. He could get life in prison.