According to U.S Attorney Jennifer B. Lowery, two active-duty soldiers stationed at Fort Hood have been sentenced to federal prison for participating in an unlawful migrant-smuggling operation.
Border Patrol agents (BPAs) arrested 21-year-old Isaiah Gore and 22-year-old Denerio Williams after two of their co-conspirators were caught attempting to sneak two unlawful migrants into Hebbronville, north of McAllen, Texas.
In the summer of 2021, Ralph Gregory Saint-Joie and Emmanuel Oppongagyare approached a Border Patrol checkpoint located about 40 miles northeast of the Rio Grande section of the border between Texas and Nuevo Leon, Mexico.
The co-conspirators, both stationed in Fort Hood, were arrested when agents opened the trunk of their car and found two individuals from Mexico who had been transported across the border illegally. Both were wearing their U.S. Army OCP (Operation Camouflage Pattern) uniforms at the time of their arrest.
According to reports published by local news outlets in southern Texas, the BPAs had become suspicious when the soldiers claimed they were driving to an Army post in San Antonio after being transferred from Fort Hood, as they were following a highly unusual and complicated route.
Shortly after their arrest, Oppongagyare confessed that he had met someone from Fort Hood through Saint-Joie who had paid them $100 to drive unlawful migrants from Mexico north to San Antonio.
According to an investigation, Gore had arranged for Oppongagyare and Saint-Joie to smuggle the unlawful migrants into Texas. At the same time, Williams and other co-conspirators acted as drivers after the unlawful migrants were brought across the border, transporting them to other parts of the state for a fee.
Williams and Gore admitted to their conspiracy to illegally transport people across the border when they entered guilty pleas in December 2021.
U.S. District Judge Marina Garcia Marmolejo imposed a 30-month sentence on Gore, while Williams received 24 months. They will also be placed under 3-year supervision after serving their sentences.
Judge Garcia Marmolejo explained that the men received a severe sentence because they are “not the average citizens.” The Judge stated that the soldiers involved knew that wearing their Army uniforms would aid them in remaining undetected and avoiding arrest.
According to the complaint, “Individual 1 … specifically instructed that [Oppongagyare and Saint-Joie] both wear their United States Army issued uniforms to avoid questioning by BPAs.”
Oppongagyare and Saint-Joie pleaded guilty in August 2021. Another of the drivers, 21-year old Ivory Palmer, pleaded guilty in January 2022. The three have not yet been sentenced.
Gore and Williams were permitted to remain out on bond and surrender themselves to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility at an unspecified time in the near future. Gore has been discharged from the Army.