Man pleads guilty to using sewer pipes to smuggle people between Mexico and U.S.

A man has pleaded guilty to human smuggling charges after he was observed helping people travel from Mexico to the U.S. through a California sewage pipe, federal prosecutors said Thursday. 

Kevin Noe Campos Villa, 20, of Tijuana, Mexico pleaded guilty to a charge of bringing in unauthorized immigrants at a place other than a designated port of entry, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of California said in a news release. 

In a plea agreement, Campos admitted that he helped seven unauthorized immigrants travel through sewer pipes near the San Ysidro port of entry during heavy rains. The sewer pipes are typically covered with grates that prevent people from using them, which connect the U.S. and Mexico at multiple points, but those grates are removed during periods of heavy rain to allow water to flow without damaging the system. 

U.S. Border Patrol officers observed Campos helping unauthorized immigrants through the sewer pipes, proscutors said. When those officers confronted him, Campos and three of the immigrants allegedly ran and fell into the Tijuana River, where they were rescued by San Diego lifeguards. Two of the men did not know how to swim and said they feared for their lives.  

Campos also admitted to taking money to guide the group across the border in his plea agreement, prosecutors said. He said that he had been paid $6,000. 

"This case is yet another example of transnational smuggling organizations placing profits over safety," U.S. Attorney Tara McGrath said in a statement. "Thankfully, due to law enforcement intervention and the assistance of local lifeguards, all lives were spared."

Campos also admitted that he had been working for smugglers by building ladders to get people across the U.S.-Mexico border fence. 

Campos will be sentenced on June 17. 

In:
• Smuggling
• California
• U.S.-Mexico Border

Kerry Breen

Kerry Breen is a reporter and news editor at CBSNews.com. A graduate of New York University's Arthur L. Carter School of Journalism, she previously worked at NBC News' TODAY Digital. She covers current events, breaking news and issues including substance use.

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