HARLINGEN, Texas (Border Report) — A Mississippi man has been sentenced to 10 years in prison after using a fake store delivery truck to smuggle migrants near the U.S.-Mexico border, Texas Department of Public Safety officials confirmed Wednesday.
Cezanne Megel Patterson, 29, of Jackson, Mississippi, was sentenced last Thursday following his arrest last year in a case that drew widespread attention after DPS released footage of the incident.
Patterson was stopped on August 30, 2024, while driving along a highway in Kinney County near Del Rio, Texas. The vehicle resembled a Lowe’s Home Improvement delivery truck, but troopers quickly discovered something was off. Inside a narrow, 3-foot-wide hidden compartment, they found 17 migrants packed tightly with no ventilation.
He was charged with smuggling of persons with the likelihood of serious bodily injury or death.
The case fell under tougher penalties introduced through anti-smuggling legislation signed by Governor Greg Abbott in 2023, which increased sentencing guidelines for smugglers caught endangering human life.
“This case is a clear example of the dangerous lengths smugglers will go to in pursuit of profit,” said DPS South Texas Region Chief Arturo Dela Garza. “Human smuggling is a serious crime, and I commend the teamwork between our troopers and local prosecutors in ensuring criminals like Patterson are held accountable.”
Patterson’s conviction is one of several recent cases highlighting the continued risks and rising number of human smuggling attempts along the Texas border.
