Colombian human smugglers Carlos Ibarguen Palacios and Jhoan Carreazo Asprilla, now in their 20s, each will be at least 65 before they walk out of federal prison.
They’ll have lived 40 years longer than the Cuban man they killed and the Cuban woman they raped and killed in the waters off Turbo, Colombia.
Ibarguen Palacios, 27, and Carreazo Asprilla, 23, each were sentenced Monday after October’s guilty pleas in Miami federal court to one count of conspiracy to encourage and induce aliens to come to the Unites States resulting in death, as well as three counts of encouraging and inducing aliens to come to the United States resulting in death and placing in jeopardy the lives of any person.
Ibarguen Palacios got 45 years, of which he must serve at least 38 years, three months. Carreazo Asprilla got 50 years, of which he must serve at least 42 years, six months.
“These two individuals were involved in one of the most cold and callous cases investigated by HSI Miami,” said HSI Special Agent in Charge Anthony Salisbury. “Although the sentences will not return the victims to their loved ones, it does bring justice for their friends and family.”
Fredis Valencia Palacios, a boat driver for the head smuggler in charge, Jorge Fernando Rivera Weir, was sentenced to 15 years in December. Rivera Weir remains at large.
Rivera Weir collected $2,900 from friends and family, most in Miami, to smuggle a woman and man referred to in court documents as “E.M.A.” and “L.S.C” from Colombia through to the United States. When the Cuban couple got to the coastal Colombian city of Turbo in August 2016, they were joined by “D.E.L.S.”
Valencia Palacios and Ibarguen Palacios were the crew when they left Turbo for Panama, but a leaky boat boomeranged them back to Turbo. The next day brought a new boat and new crew Ibarguen Palacios and Carrezao Asprilla. The boat was safer, the crew more lethal.
Once on the water, Ibarguen Palacios and Carrezao Asprilla whipped out a knife and a gun. They tied L.S.C and D.E.L.S. off the side of the boat and raped E.M.A. Then they killed her. They just killed D.E.L.S.
Meanwhile, L.S.C. got out of his ropes and swam for a mangrove area that made it a little harder to catch him.
Fishermen who work the area found L.S.C. the next day.
This story was originally published February 13, 2019 6:30 AM.
