Smuggler Gets Nearly 7 Years for Texas Ship Channel Death

BROWNSVILLE, Texas (AP) — A convicted human smuggler from Mexico must serve nearly seven years in a U.S. prison over the 2015 death of an immigrant struck by a Coast Guard boat as she tried to reach Texas.

Galdino Jose Ruiz-Hernandez of Oaxaca (wuh-HAH'-kah), Mexico, was sentenced Monday in Brownsville. The 38-year-old Ruiz-Hernandez was convicted of human smuggling leading to death.

Ruiz-Hernandez received 80 months for smuggling and 24 months for illegally re-entering the U.S, with the sentences concurrent. The Mexican later faces deportation.

Authorities say Ruiz-Hernandez was in the water guiding the woman through the Brownsville Ship Channel when she was hit by a Coast Guard patrol boat.

Ruiz-Hernandez was arrested after reporting that a friend told him he saw a woman's body in the channel. Officials later determined Ruiz-Hernandez was the smuggler.