EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – A judge in Arizona has sentenced a woman from Mexico to two years in prison after she pleaded guilty to assaulting a federal agent with a dangerous weapon.
The charge stems from an April 16 incident in Nogales, Ariz., in which a U.S. Border Patrol agent, only identified as E.B., saw the woman come over the border wall and drove up to the scene.
The woman, later identified as Sandra Meza Casillas, 51, attempted to go unnoticed by lying flat on her stomach on a road that runs parallel to the international barrier.
Court records show that when Agent E.B. arrived, two individuals on the Mexican side of the wall encouraged Meza to run away.
The agent pursued the woman on foot and grabbed her shoulder when he caught up to her. Court records show Meza pulled out a canister and pepper-sprayed the agent on his left cheek. The agent overcame the assault, and Meza was apprehended.
Records show Meza did not have authorization to be in the United States and was previously deported from the country in 2012.
Court records show Meza has family in the United States and that her attorney requested her release pending trial. The government opposed the move, and the judge ruled she should remain in custody.
Facing a possible sentence of up to 20 years in prison if convicted of the assault, Meza decided to seek a plea bargain with prosecutors approximately one month after her arrest.
U.S. District Judge Angela M. Martinez sentenced Meza to 24 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced this month. Meza is facing deportation upon completion of her sentence.
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