Tucson Woman Sentenced to 60 Months for Transporting Illegal Aliens for Profit Publisher: U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Arizona Byline: Zach J. Stoebe Dateline: Tucson, Arizona Date: 24 January 2025 Subjects: American Government , Crime Topic: Volkswagen Routan

TUCSON, Ariz. – Sharnesia Latrice Cooley, 31, of Tucson, was sentenced last week by United States District Judge Scott H. Rash to 60 months in prison for Conspiracy to Transport Illegal Aliens for Profit and Transporting Illegal Aliens for Profit. Cooley was found guilty at trial on November 1, 2024.

On February 2, 2024, near Naco, a United States Border Patrol camera operator observed four suspected undocumented noncitizens approach a 2011 Volkswagen Routan. Another Border Patrol agent responded and observed the group get into the Routan. When Border Patrol was able to stop the vehicle, they found that it was only occupied by Cooley, who was the driver, her two-year-old minor son and a co-defendant, Mariana Garcia-Tapia. A search of the area revealed four seriously injured people strewn along the road just east of the San Pedro Bridge. Their injuries were consistent with having jumped from a moving vehicle. It was determined that all four were illegally present within the United States. One of the undocumented noncitizens admitted that they made arrangements to be smuggled into the United States for a sum of money. All four were transported to the hospital with injuries including serious head trauma.

The co-defendant, Garcia-Tapia, pleaded guilty to Conspiracy to Transport Illegal Aliens for Profit Placing in Jeopardy the Life of Any Person on July 10, 2024. She was sentenced on November 15, 2024, to 60 months in prison by Judge Rash with an additional 12 months in prison to run consecutive to her sentence for violating the conditions of her supervised release in a separate case (CR-22-00816-002-PHX-DJH).

Customs and Border Protection’s United States Border Patrol conducted the investigation in this case. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Alicia Renee Quezada and Caroline Allen, District of Arizona, Tucson, handled the prosecution.
 

CASE NUMBER:            CR 24-00910-TUC-SHR
RELEASE NUMBER:    2025-009_Cooley

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Public Affairs
Zach J. Stoebe
Telephone: (602) 514-7413
zachry.stoebe@usdoj.gov

Updated January 24, 2025

Press Release Number: 2025-009_Cooley