$54,000 to Smugglers, 3 Dead in a Hill Country Crash: Houston Man Gets 35 More Years in Del Rio, Texas, for Role in CJNG-Linked Smuggling Ring
Roland Heith Martinez, a 26-year-old from Houston, was sentenced in federal court in Del Rio, Texas, to 35 years in prison for his role in a human-smuggling ring that prosecutors say is directly connected to the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG). One of the ring’s smuggling runs ended in a single-vehicle crash in Kimble County, in the Texas Hill Country, on Aug. 7, 2022, killing two migrants and the driver, a U.S. citizen. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas announced the sentence on Sept. 28, 2026.
368 money transfers to smugglers
According to court documents cited in the release, Martinez was an active member of what prosecutors call the Guzman Transnational Criminal Organization from May 2021 until his arrest on a drug charge in Houston on Jan. 25, 2023. The release describes the group as operating in Oklahoma, Alabama, Texas, Louisiana and Mexico, trafficking guns and drugs and smuggling migrants into the United States.
Prosecutors said Martinez sent more than $54,000 to smuggling facilitators through at least 368 money transfers and CashApp payments, and recruited drivers for future loads. U.S. Attorney Justin R. Simmons said Martinez also managed stash houses and dealt firearms. He pleaded guilty on June 30, 2025, to conspiracy to transport illegal aliens resulting in death.
Nearly 47 years in total
Chief U.S. District Judge Alia Moses ordered the 35 years to run consecutively with the 140-month sentence Martinez received in 2023 in the Southern District of Texas on drug-trafficking charges. HSI San Antonio’s special agent in charge, John A. Pasciucco, said the HSI Eagle Pass investigation uncovered a pattern of violence including murder, attempted murder, aggravated kidnapping, home invasion and arson.
The Guzman siblings
In June 2026, the same judge sentenced the organization’s alleged leaders, siblings Edgar Daniel Guzman, 32, of Albertville, Alabama, and Jesika Guzman-Garcia, 35, of Guanajuato, Mexico. According to a Justice Department release from June 24, Guzman got life in prison for conspiracy to commit hostage taking, and Guzman-Garcia got 405 months. Prosecutors tied her to a smuggling event that killed the load driver and two migrants and to 459 CashApp payments totaling $84,046. That June release does not name the place or date of the crash.
Sources
- U.S. Attorney’s Office, Western District of Texas: “Federal Judge Adds 35 Years to Houston Man’s 11-Year Imprisonment for His Role in a Fatal Alien Smuggling Operation” (Sept. 28, 2026)
- U.S. Department of Justice: “Homeland Security Task Force Case Sends Sibling Co-Conspirators to Federal Prison for Roles in Transnational Criminal Organization” (June 24, 2026)
- Photos: U.S. Department of Justice (public domain); Billy Hathorn, Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Reported Sept. 28, 2026, from the Justice Department releases cited above. The cartel link and all details of the organization’s conduct are as described by prosecutors; the releases do not say whether the flipped vehicle pictured is the Kimble County crash.