Hartford Woman, 73, Pleads Guilty To Smuggling Illegal Aliens: Feds

HARTFORD, CT — A Mexican national last living in Hartford has pleaded guilty in federal court to an illegal scheme to smuggle illegal aliens into the city and then exploit them financially.

Vanessa Roberts Avery, U.S. attorney for Connecticut, said Maria del Carmen Sanchez Potrero, 73, a Mexican citizen last residing in Hartford, pleaded guilty Thursday to several charges in U.S. District Court in Bridgeport.

The charges, Avery said, stem from her involvement in a scheme to smuggle aliens into the U.S., harbor them at Hartford area residences, force them to work, and threaten to harm them in various ways if they failed to pay exorbitant fees, interest, and other living expenses.

According to court documents and statements made in court, beginning in September 2022, the FBI and Hartford Police interviewed several Mexican nationals who disclosed they were smuggled from Mexico into the U.S. and transported to Hartford.

She said the investigation revealed victims typically arranged with Sanchez, her co-conspirators in Connecticut, and associates in Mexico to cross the border into the U.S. in exchange for a fee of between $15,000 and $20,000 each would need to pay once they were in the U.S.

In most cases, the victims were required to turn over a property deed as collateral before leaving Mexico, Avery said.

They were then smuggled across the border and transported to Hartford area residences, including Sanchez’s residence on Madison Street in Hartford, often at a substantial risk of bodily injury or death, according to authorities.

Avery said after the victims arrived in Connecticut, they were told they would have to pay $30,000, with interest, and they would have to pay Sanchez and her co-coconspirators for rent, food, gas, and utilities.

Sanchez and her co-conspirators created false documents for the victims, including Permanent Residence cards and Social Security cards, and helped the victims find employment in the Hartford area, officials said.

In addition to their own jobs, some victims were required to perform housework and yardwork without compensation and without having their debt reduced, Avery said.

Victims were rarely provided with an accounting of their debt, she said.

Avery said if victims failed to make regular payments, or in amounts that Sanchez and her co-conspirators expected, they were sometimes threatened.

According to Avery, those threats were to harm family members in Mexico, to take property in Mexico secured as collateral, to reveal victims’ immigration status to U.S. authorities, and to raise their interest payments.

To date, investigators have identified 18 victims of this scheme, she said.

Authorities said Sanchez pleaded guilty to conspiracy to encourage and induce, bring in, transport, and harbor aliens, an offense that carries a maximum term of imprisonment of 10 years.

Her sentencing is slated for Jan. 16, 2025.

Sanchez has agreed to a restitution order of $494,608 as part of her plea agreement and has been detained since her arrest on March 1, 2023.

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