Mexican Woman Sentenced For Smuggling Cocaine Into The U.S.
Friday, January 17, 2025, 6:30 A.M. ET. 2 Minute Read, By Art Fletcher: Englebrook Independent News,
LAREDO, TX.- A 49-year-old Mexican woman learned on Monday that she would be spending the next decade in federal prison for attempting to smuggle more than six kilograms of cocaine hidden in her car into the United States and bringing her teenage daughter with her.
On Monday, January 13, 2025, Carmen Julia Carreon Segovia, 49, of Mexico, appeared in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas and was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Lee H. Rosenthal to 120 months in federal prison for her previously entered guilty plea on a federal narcotics violation.
During Monday’s sentencing hearing, Judge Rosenthal noted that Carreon Segovia will face immediate deportation proceedings upon completion of her federal prison term. On June 12, 2024, Carreon Segovia appeared in District Court and pleaded guilty to Conspiracy to Import Schedule II Controlled Substances into the United States.
According to U.S. Attorney Alamdar S. Hamdani and charging documents filed with the court, on January 19, 2024, Carreon Segovia drove her vehicle to the Juarez-Lincoln International Bridge in Laredo, Texas, to apply for admission into the United States. Her 16-year-old daughter was riding along with her as a passenger.
Customs And Border Patrol Officers Find Cocaine
During an inspection of the vehicle, Customs and Border Patrol located eight bundles containing 6.30 kilograms of cocaine with a street value of around $90,000 hidden in the front fender well of her vehicle, a Sport Utility Vehicle. During her arrest, Carreon Segovia denied any knowledge of the drugs being hidden in her vehicle. Following her arrest, federal authorities immediately revoked her non-immigrant visa.
During her June 2024 plea allocution, Carreon Segovia subsequently admitted to knowing the co-conspirators who concealed the cocaine somewhere in her vehicle for her to smuggle into the United States.
“Even more insidious than smuggling a dangerous and highly addictive drug into the United States is bringing along your own minor child, exposing her needlessly to a dangerous underworld,” said U.S. Attorney Hamdani. “Segovia will now have 10 years in a prison cell to contemplate the consequences of her actions, actions that affect and endangered her teenage daughter.”
Carreon Segovia will remain in federal custody pending transfer to a Bureau of Prison facility to serve her prison term.
