A 30-year-old man from Culiacán, Mexico, has been sentenced to 21 months in federal prison for his role in an alien smuggling conspiracy and for assaulting a U.S. Border Patrol agent during a foot pursuit in southern Arizona.
Efrain Pacheco-Ovalles pleaded guilty to charges of assaulting a federal officer and conspiring to transport undocumented migrants for financial gain. U.S. District Judge Angela M. Martinez handed down the sentence on Jan. 29, 2026, which includes three years of supervised release after imprisonment, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Arizona.
U.S. Attorney Timothy Courchaine emphasized the government’s commitment to protecting agents and disrupting smuggling operations. “The U.S. Attorney’s Office will not tolerate assaults on federal agents nor the criminal networks that exploit our southern border,” Courchaine said, underscoring the dangers faced by law enforcement in border regions.
Prosecutors said that in early 2025, Pacheco-Ovalles was employed as a scout for a transnational criminal organization (TCO) operating through the Tohono O’odham Indian Nation. Scouts are critical members of such networks, often stationed on mountain ridges to monitor patrol movements and alert smugglers via radios and cell phones. Pacheco-Ovalles admitted he was paid about $40 for each migrant who successfully reached the Phoenix area.
On February 4, 2025, Border Patrol agents tracked him to a lookout site on Nine Mile Mountain, where he tried to evade capture. According to court documents, as one agent closed in, Pacheco-Ovalles struck the officer in the face, leaving him with a black eye. He was later apprehended after a chase of roughly a mile and a half down the rugged terrain.
The case was part of Operation Take Back America, a national U.S. Department of Justice initiative targeting cartels and transnational smuggling groups. The operation combines the resources of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces and Project Safe Neighborhoods to dismantle criminal networks operating along the U.S.-Mexico border.
The U.S. Border Patrol, Tucson Sector led the investigation, with prosecution handled by federal attorneys from the Tucson division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona.
