Florida resident James M. Bradley Jr. has pleaded guilty to a July attempt of smuggling immigrants into the country, leaving 10 people dead, via the Texas-Mexico Border.
In three months, Bradley, 61, will be handed his fate — a fate that could carry a lifetime prison sentence, after changing his plea to guilty, in a San Antonio federal court, on one count of transporting immigrants resulting in death and another count of conspiracy.
Bradley was the driver of an 18-wheel tractor trailer that police came across in a San Antonio Walmart parking lot after receiving a call from an employee just after midnight on July 23. The police arrived on the scene to find 39 undocumented immigrants, outside of or lying in the trailer, with another eight lifeless in the trailer. Nearly 30 people were hospitalized. Two people died while receiving treatment, which raised the body count to 10.
Survivors estimated that the non-refrigerated, poorly ventilated trailer held 200 people at one point. A lack of food or water, along with the sweltering Texas heat, led the passengers to panic. As temperatures rose, some immigrants began passing out, while others banged on the walls of the trailer, hoping someone would hear them. Others took turns gasping in air through one small vent in the trailer.
According to police, the victims were trapped in the back of the trailer for as long as three hours. An estimated 155 miles into the trip, Bradley pulled into the Walmart parking lot. The employee called authorities after witnessing the passengers stumble from the back of the trailer, with a few asking him for water.
The day had started with many of the migrants making their way across the Rio Grande, or other border crossings, before meeting in the town of Laredo. They were then packed into the trailer by smugglers that promised the refrigeration unit of the truck was fully functioning. Not long after entering the trailer, the passengers, all who had paid to be smuggled into the country, faced the brutal conditions within the trailer, and the uncertainty of their survival.
It isn’t entirely clear what made Bradley change his original not guilty plea. According to the New York Times, “A spokesman for the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas said that a plea agreement with Mr. Bradley was under seal. His guilty plea did not apply to three other charges he faces, and the spokesman said that those charges could be dismissed at the sentencing hearing in January.”
“Today’s admission of guilt by Mr. Bradley helps to close the door on one of the conspirators responsible for causing the tragic loss of life and wreaking havoc on those who survived this horrific incident,” Shane M. Folden, the special agent with the San Antonio office of the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations unit, said in a statement. Folden also called the event a “glaring reminder that alien smugglers are driven by greed and have little regard for the health and well-being of their human cargo, which can prove to be a deadly combination.”
Authorities have also indicted 47-year-old Pedro Silva Segura, a co-conspirator in these events, on several counts, including two counts of transporting undocumented aliens resulting in serious bodily injury and placing lives in jeopardy and two counts of conspiracy. Silva, who authorities say is living in Laredo, undocumented, will be transferred to San Antonio to face these charges.
Bradley remains in custody. His sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 22, 2018.
