A Mississippi man has been sentenced to 10 years in federal prison after attempting to smuggle migrants inside a fake Lowe’s delivery truck near the U.S.-Mexico border.
Cezanne Megel Patterson was arrested last year just outside Del Rio, Texas, while driving a vehicle painted to resemble a Lowe’s Home Improvement truck. Upon inspection, state troopers discovered 17 migrants crammed into a hidden compartment with no ventilation, according to Border Report.
Patterson was charged with human smuggling with the likelihood of serious bodily injury or death.
“This case shows just how far smugglers will go to profit off human lives, regardless of the risk,” said Arturo Dela Garza, Chief of the South Texas Region for the Department of Public Safety.
Patterson’s case is one of several recent convictions involving high-risk smuggling operations.
In late June, a truck driver in New Mexico was caught transporting more than a dozen migrants — one found hiding in the cab, and 12 more stashed in a concealed compartment beneath a flatbed trailer.
Earlier in June, nine people tied to a smuggling ring pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges. Prosecutors say the group, active between October 2021 and April 2023, helped move migrants who had illegally crossed the border through Luna County, New Mexico. From there, the migrants were hidden in stash houses and then transported deeper into the U.S., including to Virginia and California.
Just days before Patterson’s sentencing, a woman who orchestrated a failed smuggling attempt that resulted in a migrant’s death pleaded guilty and received a 10-year prison sentence.
In another recent case from late May, two Texas men — Mac Quese Howard and De Richardson Miller — admitted to charging thousands of dollars to smuggle migrants into the U.S. through Laredo. That same month, a dozen undocumented individuals were discovered hidden inside hay bales during a routine traffic stop.
Officials say the string of arrests and convictions highlights both the growing danger of human smuggling networks and law enforcement’s ongoing efforts to crack down on them.
