Department of Justice Seal Department of Justice
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
THURSDAY, JUNE 26, 2003
WWW.USDOJ.GOV
CRT
(202) 514-2008
TDD (202) 514-1888

HUDSPETH COUNTY, TEXAS INDIVIDUALS SENTENCED
REGARDING CIVIL RIGHTS VIOLATIONS


WASHINGTON, D.C. - Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Ralph F. Boyd, Jr. and U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Texas Johnny Sutton today announced the sentencing of two Hudspeth County, Texas brothers of charges regarding civil rights violations.

Octavio Lozoya, Jr. and Joe Lozoya were sentenced for their roles in the harboring of a Mexican woman and her child, which eventually resulted in the death of the 21-month-old child. Judge W. Royal Furgeson, of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, sentenced Octavio Lozoya, Jr. to 15 years in prison and Joe Lozoya to 5 years in prison.

Octavio Lozoya, Jr. pled guilty in September 2002 to one count of conspiracy to harbor illegal aliens with death resulting, as well as one count of harboring an illegal alien with death resulting. Joe Lozoya pled guilty in September 2002 to one count of conspiracy to harbor illegal aliens with death resulting.

“Today’s sentencing demonstrates that these types of crimes will not be tolerated in the United States,” said Ralph F. Boyd, Jr. “These criminals cruelly abused a young mother and her defenseless child. That kind of inhuman conduct will be aggressively pursued and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” added Boyd.

On approximately April 1999, Flor Isela Marquez Campos illegally entered the United States to work as a domestic servant. In July 1999, Marquez and her child moved in with the Lozoya family, a filthy and ill-kept trailer home in the Hueco Village area of Hudspeth County.

Octavio Lozoya, Jr. and another family member abused and neglected the child by separating her from the care of her mother, keeping the child in unsanitary living conditions, making her stand for prolonged periods of time as punishment, physically abusing her, putting her underwear in her mouth as punishment for urinating on herself, denying her food as punishment, binding her legs with duct tape so she would stand for prolonged periods of time, forcing her mouth shut with duct-tape so she would not cry, as well as forcing her to sleep on the floor.

Joe Lozoya participated in transporting Marquez and her baby daughter and keeping them separate from each other. The child eventually became visibly sick but, despite the mother’s pleas, was never taken to the hospital.

On or about December 17, 1999, the 21-month-old child collapsed and stopped breathing. Octavio Lozoya, Jr. and Joe Lozoya refused the mother’s pleas to take her daughter to the hospital for medical treatment and the baby died. Joe Lozoya then burned the child’s body to prevent discovery. In June 2000, and acting on a tip, agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the former Immigration and Naturalization Service rescued the mother from the trailer home.

“The Lozoya brothers’ conduct merited the sentence meted out by Judge Furgeson,” said U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton. “Those who abuse and exploit innocent victims will be aggressively prosecuted and severely punished.”

The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the former Immigration and Naturalization Service jointly investigated the matter. The Criminal Section of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas jointly prosecuted the case.

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