BC Freedom of Information and Privacy Association
Your Data Your Rights
BRUNSWICK, Ga. (AP) — A Mexican citizen was sentenced Monday to life in a U.S. prison for killing a man who reported him and his brother to authorities for cheating migrant workers out of millions of dollars.
A U.S. District Court judge in Brunswick, Georgia, sentenced 46-year-old Juan Rangel-Rubio nearly six months after a jury convicted him of conspiring to kill a witness and other criminal counts.
According to federal prosecutors, Rangel-Rubio and his brother recruited migrant workers living illegally in the U.S. to work for a tree-trimming business in southeast Georgia, then routed more than $3.5 million of the workers’ earnings to their own accounts.
Employee Eliud Montoya filed a complaint with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and was fatally shot in August 2017 outside his home near Savannah. Prosecutors said Rangel-Rubio pulled the trigger after plotting the killing with his brother, Pablo Rangel-Rubio, and a getaway driver, Higinio Perez-Bravo.
Both co-defendants had previously received prison sentences for conspiring to kill Montoya, a U.S. citizen. Prosecutors said the Rangel-Rubio brothers and Perez-Bravo were all Mexican citizens living in the U.S. illegally when the killing occurred.
“Eliud Montoya was murdered for doing the right thing and revealing Juan Rangel-Rubio’s scheme to profit off his use of undocumented workers,” Jill E. Steinberg, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Georgia, said in a news release. “As a result of the diligent efforts of our law enforcement partners, Juan Rangel-Rubio will be held accountable for his despicable crimes.’
You can support trusted and verified news content like this.
FIPA’s news monitor subscribers, donors and funders help make these available to everyone rather than behind a paywall. We appreciate every contribution because it makes a difference.
If you found this article interesting and useful, please consider contributing here.
