Source: Office of United States Attorneys
LAREDO, Texas – A 23-year-old Laredo woman has been ordered to prison for her role in an unaccompanied minor smuggling ring, announced U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei.
Vanessa Valadez pleaded guilty Sept. 20, 2024, admitting she smuggled a child into the United States for financial gain.
U.S. District Judge Keith P. Ellison has now ordered her to serve 18 months in federal prison to be immediately followed by three years of supervised release.
“Those that choose to engage in the human trafficking business are not good people. They aren’t motivated by altruism or sympathy. They are paid to traffic in human beings, and they treat people they smuggle as nothing more than cargo,” said Ganjei. “The Southern District of Texas will not rest until all such smuggling rings—particularly those that deal in children—are completely eradicated.”
“The sentencing of this individual underscores the serious consequences for those who exploit and endanger vulnerable populations, especially children,” said Immigration and Customs Enforcement – Homeland Security Investigations (ICE-HSI) San Antonio Special Agent in Charge Craig S. Larrabee. “Drugging children to facilitate human smuggling is not only criminal it’s inhumane. HSI is committed to identifying and dismantling the criminal networks behind these horrific acts and ensuring those responsible are brought to justice.”
From August to September 2023, Valadez and other family members operated a child smuggling ring working to bring young illegal minors from Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, into the United States. All the children were under the age of five.
On the night of Sept. 19, 2023, members of the smuggling ring retrieved a young girl from a stash house which the organization members operated. The co-conspirators smuggled the girl across the border and delivered her to Valadez in downtown Laredo. Co-conspirators then took the child further into the United States and delivered her to unknown people.
Two days later, the ring attempted to transport another young girl. However, law enforcement intercepted them following a routine border inspection at the Juarez Lincoln Bridge in Laredo. To carry out their scheme, co-conspirators had sedated the girl with melatonin gummies and used an unlawfully obtained birth certificate to deceive authorities into believing the girl was a family member.
The investigation revealed the smuggling ring had attempted to similarly transport at least four girls into the United States, three of whom remain unidentified and their whereabouts are unknown. Members of the smuggling ring obtained birth certificates of U.S. citizen children to pose as a family unit at ports of entry to the United States. At times, organization members used melatonin gummies to sedate at least one child to ensure a successful smuggling attempt.
One text message uncovered in the investigation showed an image depicting an unconscious child and a caption, “La noquiamos con unas gomitas,” translated in English as “we knocked her out with some gummies.”
Co-conspirators Ana Laura Bryand, 47, Dallas; her niece Kayla Marie Bryand, 20, Jose Eduardo Bryand, 43, and Nancy Guadalupe Bryand, 44, all of Laredo; and Lizeth Esmeralda Bryand Arredondo, 32, Mexico, previously pleaded guilty and have all already been sentenced to federal prison.
ICE-HSI conducted the investigation with Customs and Border Protection’s Office of Field Operations and assistance from Border Patrol, Laredo Police Department, Department of Health and Human Services – Office of the Inspector General and FBI. Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Makens and former Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Terence A. Check Jr. prosecuted the case.