TUCSON, Ariz. — A man now knows how long he will be in prison in connection to the assault of a Border Patrol agent in 2020, according to the United States Attorney's Office.
51-year-old Jorge Zazueta-Miranda of Agua Prieta, Sonora, Mexico, was sentenced last week by United States District Judge Rosemary Márquez to 90 months in prison.
According to a release from the U.S. Attorney's Office, the sentence will run consecutive to a previous Illegal Re-Entry of a Removed Alien conviction and sentence from New Mexico. Officials said Zazueta-Miranda pleaded guilty to Assault on a Federal Officer with a Dangerous Weapon on June 23.
The alleged incident occurred on April 1, 2020. During that day, U.S. Border Patrol agents near Douglas reportedly saw two suspicious “construction” trucks and went to investigate.
Agents stopped one of the trucks and found 19 undocumented non-citizens. The second truck, driven by Zazueta-Miranda, didn't stop and drove away from the agents. Zazueta-Miranda drove through Douglas and continued along a border road into the desert, Border Patrol said.
A Border Patrol agent tried to stop the truck, but Zazueta-Miranda turned towards the agent’s vehicle and hit the back of the vehicle. Zazueta-Miranda then headed towards a break in the U.S. border wall and crashed into a second agent’s vehicle.
Zazueta-Miranda and several undocumented non-citizens fled from the truck, into the break in the border wall and on into Mexico.
After the incident, a fingerprint belonging to Zazueta-Miranda was found on the driver-side door of the vehicle. A witness from the other truck also identified Zazueta-Miranda and an arrest warrant was issued.
On Feb. 9, 2022, Zazueta-Miranda was arrested in New Mexico. The Sierra Vista field office of the FBI, with assistance from Customs and Border Protection’s United States Border Patrol, investigated this case. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Serra M. Tsethlikai and Evan N. Wesley, District of Arizona, Tucson, handled the prosecution.
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