The owner of Phoenix’s most distinctive taco truck was sentenced to 20 months in federal prison on Tuesday for a firearms charge and employing undocumented unauthorized immigrants at his businesses, which include a brick-and-mortar restaurant.
The judge sentenced Blademir Angulo Audeves to two months more than the prosecutors requested. He was sentenced to 20 months for the firearms charge and six months for the employment charge, which he will serve consecutively.
Related posts
Following that, Angulo Audeves will be released under supervision for 36 months. He will be obliged to appear in person at the probation office within 72 hours after his release, “if you are not deported,” according to Humetewa.
After the judge announced his sentence, Angulo Audeves, with his wrists tied in front of him by a metal chain around his waist, waved and smiled to his family and friends in the gallery behind him.
Three US Marshals led him out of the sixth-floor courtroom in downtown Phoenix. After his term concludes, the owner of El Taco Loko is likely to face deportation to Mexico.
The 42-year-old father of two was detained in early July after federal authorities executed a search warrant at his Valley home, three physical locations of his business, and a 16th Avenue residence where some of his undocumented employees resided.
Prosecutors claimed he helped smuggle workers into the country after WhatsApp chats between him and a suspected smuggler were discovered. Angulo Audeves’ master bedroom closet also contained three weapons, which his undocumented status forbids him from legally owning. He said the guns were gifts.
His two adolescent children are both citizens of the United States. His wife, who has a work authorization card and is lawfully present in the country, was also arrested but later freed.
Court documents from the defendant describe the raid as violent and damaging, as “agents crashed an armored vehicle through his front gate and detained his children at gunpoint.”
During the searches, federal officials also detained 12 of Angulo Audeves’ unauthorized employees.
Angulo Audeves pleaded guilty to two crimes in mid-August as part of a plea arrangement with prosecutors that included the dismissal of two more accusations related to harboring unauthorized immigrants and improper entry into the country.
Prior to the sentencing hearing, Angulo Audeves faced a penalty of 30 to 37 months in jail, but the plea agreement guaranteed that the term would not exceed 30 months.
On Tuesday, Angulo Audeves stood next to his lawyer, Nicholas Bustamante, who argued that his client should be punished with time served, which is 112 days. Bustamente declined to comment on Audeves’ case following the hearing.
Angulo Audeves stood in his prison-issued orange shirt and jeans, with black headphones hanging below his chin, translating the sounds into Spanish in his ears. Standing next to him, Bustamante argued that time served was an appropriate sentence because Angulo Audeves’ life had already been “unalterably changed,” according to sentencing court documents.
“I’d like to ask for your forgiveness and state to you that it was never in my mind to use these weapons against anybody,” Angulo Audeves told the court in Spanish through a translator who sat next to the judge during his sentencing. “Could I please get the opportunity to go back to my country of origin? I have a plan to be able to move back there and hopefully after some time, I’d be able to return to this country legally.”
The government forfeited all of the company’s food trucks, including the iconic, brightly lighted 2007 Blue Bird All American Diesel bus, as part of the plea agreement, along with Angulo Audeves’ firearms and ammunition. Ruby, Angulo Audeves’ adolescent daughter, also told the court that the family is “closing our business since there’s no money coming in.” The Maryvale brick-and-mortar restaurant was not forfeited to the government, although it is marked as permanently closed.
Several members of the community, including 22 state Democratic lawmakers, a Phoenix police sergeant, and Angulo Audeves’ daughter, sent character letters requesting mercy on his behalf.
“Mr. Angulo has already paid a price far beyond what is just. His reputation has been tarnished, his family humiliated, and his children scarred,” the letter that 22 state lawmakers signed onto stated. “We respectfully urge you to exercise fairness and compassion in sentencing.”
Nonetheless, prosecutors with the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona stated that Angulo Audeves was aware he was breaching the law but chose to take the risk regardless. They also expressed alarm about a high-powered Mossberg .22 LR rifle discovered in his master bedroom closet, which Angulo Audeves claimed was a gift to scare off coyotes. He said he never had to use it, but prosecutors asked the court to sentence Angulo Audeves to 18 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release.
Bustamante argued that his client should be permitted to return to Mexico, start earning money, and rebuild his life there to support his wife and children, who will stay in the United States. Angulo Audeves also intends to seek lawful entrance into the nation via a pending U-Visa application. However, the Humetewa cast doubt on that idea.
“Given this background and history, I’m not entirely sure whether you’re going to be successful at petitioning to come into the United States,” she said during the hearing.
