A Grand Prairie man received a 20-year federal prison sentence for his role in a failed human smuggling operation, federal prosecutors announced Tuesday.
Van Donovan Brown, 31, also known as “Sledge,” received a 240-month sentence in federal court in Del Rio, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas.
Federal prosecutors said Brown recruited load drivers on Facebook for an alien smuggling organization while living in Colombia.
Smuggling Attempt In La Pryor
The failed smuggling attempt began on April 6, 2023, when Texas Department of Public Safety agents stopped a vehicle in La Pryor and detained one of several fleeing backseat occupants, according to a prior release from federal prosecutors.
Authorities later determined the detained person was a Mexican national with no lawful status in the United States.
Investigators said the vehicle was a rental from Philadelphia International Airport. Someone reported it stolen two days after the incident.
Federal prosecutors said investigators found an abandoned cell phone in the area and later determined it belonged to Cameron Alexander Ford, 23, of Camden, New Jersey.
The phone contained location data showing Ford stayed at a hotel in Eagle Pass on April 5 and April 6. Text messages and other evidence revealed a smuggling conspiracy involving Ford and co-defendant John Klotz, also known as “Remy,” prosecutors said.
WhatsApp, CashApp Links
Investigators later identified Brown as the person who helped coordinate the smuggling attempt through a WhatsApp group chat, according to federal prosecutors.
Records also showed Brown sent multiple CashApp payments to Klotz.
Prosecutors said Ford and Klotz drove the rental vehicle from New Jersey to Eagle Pass before the smuggling attempt. After fleeing from DPS on April 6, they flew from San Antonio to Philadelphia.
Co-Defendants Sentenced
A federal grand jury indicted Brown, Ford, and Klotz on October 2, 2024.
Ford received a 120-month federal prison sentence on March 4. Klotz received a 72-month sentence on May 1.
A fourth defendant, Jeffrey Ray Jilpas, was arrested February 20 and awaits hearings next month, prosecutors said.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Ashley Ellis-Dotson prosecuted the case.
Homeland Security Task Force
The prosecution is part of the Homeland Security Task Force initiative established by Executive Order 14159, “Protecting the American People Against Invasion.”
Federal prosecutors said the task force targets criminal cartels, foreign gangs, transnational criminal organizations, and human smuggling and trafficking rings operating in the United States and abroad.