Laredo Woman Pleads Guilty For Her Role In Child Smuggling Operation

Monday, September 23, 2024, 8:00 A.M. ET. 3 Minute Read, By Art Fletcher: Englebrook Independent News,

LAREDO, TX.- U.S. Attorney Alamdar Hamdani reported on Friday, September 20, 2024, that Vanessa Valdez, 23, of Laredo, Texas, appeared in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas and Pleaded Guilty before U.S. District Court Judge Marina Garcia Marmolejo to Smuggling a Young Child into the United States for Financial Gain.

     According to documents filed with the court, from August 2023 to September 2023, Valdez and other family members operated a child smuggling working to bring young non-citizen children from Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, into the United States. All the Children involved were under the age of five.

     During the night of September 19, 2023, members of the smuggling ring picked up a young girl from a stash house that the organization members operated. The co-conspirators smuggled the girl across the border and delivered her to Valdez in downtown Laredo, Texas. Co-conspirators then took the child further into the United States and delivered her to an unknown person.

     On September 21, 2023, members of the smuggling ring attempted to transport another young girl. However, Police intercepted them following a routine border inspection at the Juarez-Lincoln Bridge Port of Entry in Laredo, Texas. To carry out their scheme, co-conspirators sedated the girl with melatonin gummies and used an unlawfully obtained birth certificate to deceive authorities into believing the child was a family member.

     According to statements made in court by a co-conspirator, the smuggling ring had attempted to transport at least four other young girls into the United States, three of them who remain unidentified, and their whereabouts are unknown. Members of the smuggling ring obtained birth certificates of U.S. citizen children to pose as a family unit at ports of entry to the United States. At times, members of the smuggling ring used melatonin gummies to sedate at least one child to ensure a successful smuggling attempt.

U.S. Attorney Warns Others

    “This smuggling case ranks among the most chilling we’ve ever seen, involving the systematic trade of transporting young children to unknown final destinations,” said U.S. Attorney Hamdani. “Let this prosecution serve as a stark warning to all those parents who might consider entrusting a precious child to the care of a criminal organization bent on making money by smuggling vulnerable children- your child could be sedated or drugged…..or worse.”

Co-conspirators Plead Guilty

     Co-conspirators Ana Laura Bryand, 47, of Dallas, Texas, and her niece Kayla Maria Bryand, 20, of Laredo, Texas. Jose Eduardo Bryand, 43, of Laredo, Texas. Nancy Guadalupe Bryand, 44, of Laredo, Texas, and Lizeth Esmeralda Bryand Arredondo, 32, of Mexico, have all pleaded guilty for their roles in the smuggling operation.

     U.S. District Court Judge Marmolejo accepted Valdez’s guilty plea and scheduled sentencing for January 8, 2025. At that time, Valdez faces up to ten years in federal prison and a possible $250,000 fine.