CLEVELAND - A smuggling ring operated for several months in Ohio's largest Amish community, transporting hundreds of illegal immigrants from Mexico and Guatemala, investigators said.
Three Guatemalan men admitted in federal court in recent weeks that they packed undocumented people in vans and hauled them to Ohio, where they sought work in Amish communities.
For months, translators helped illegal immigrants lie on identification forms at the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles in Holmes County, prosecutors said. The State Highway Patrol began investigating when bureau employees became overwhelmed by the number of people seeking help.
The three drivers pleaded guilty between Aug. 22 and Sept. 16 in U.S. District Court in Cleveland to bringing the undocumented people to Ohio.
Abel Garcia-Mendez and Gustavo Sandoval pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting the transportation of illegal aliens. Abel Ramirez-Vasquez pleaded guilty to transportation of illegal aliens, U.S. Attorney Phillip Tripi said. They face prison terms, Tripi said.
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