A Grand Prairie man was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison after a failed human smuggling attempt.
According to the United States Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas, Van Donovan Brown, 31, has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to transport immigrants.
He was just sentenced to 240 months in prison.
According to federal prosecutors and court filings, Brown, also known as “Sledge,” actively recruited drivers for a people smuggling network on Facebook while living in Colombia.
In April 2023, he aided a smuggling attempt using a WhatsApp group chat. Records also show that he made many CashApp payments to a co-conspirator.
Brown has three co-defendants who were also charged in the case.
Cameron Alexander Ford, from New Jersey, was recently sentenced to 120 months in jail.
John Klotz, aka “Remy,” was sentenced to 72 months in prison.
Jeffrey Ray Jilpas is still awaiting a hearing after being detained on February 20.
“This smuggler thought that he could come to Texas, break the law, flee from law enforcement, and then resume his life back home as if nothing happened,” U.S. Attorney Justin Simmons said after Ford was sentenced. “Thanks to a lengthy and thorough investigation by our law enforcement partners and federal prosecutors’ dogged commitment to justice, his home for the foreseeable future will be a prison cell.”
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