Three people have pleaded guilty to smuggling immigrants into the U.S. using a hole in a bathroom wall and a private plane.
Philip Kubeck, 54; Roselia Kubeck, 48; and Earl Allen, 42, admitted in federal court Friday to bringing immigrants into the U.S. illegally for financial gain, as well as harboring and transporting them.
A grand jury indictment released Monday revealed that the three co-conspirators used a restroom near the Mexican Immigration/Customs building in Mexicali, Mexico, which was connected to a hole in the international boundary fence.
The Kubecks and Allen would send the immigrants through the hole and drive them to a stash house on N. 8th Street in El Centro.
There, they were hidden until a driver could take them to the Imperial County Airport. Philip would load the immigrants into a waiting airplane and fly them to the Los Angeles area or Northern California to avoid border checkpoints, according to the indictment.
U.S. Attorney Laura E. Duffy announced Monday that in their plea agreements, Philip admitted to serving as the pilot, Allen operated the stash house and Roselia worked as the communications link between the two, arranging drop off times.
The immigrants involved paid the convicts as much as $10,000 for the scheme.
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Philip, Roselia and Allen will be sentenced on April 21, and they face a maximum sentence of five years in prison, a $250,000 fine, restitution and three years of supervised release, Duffy said.
