Man receives 10-year sentence for smuggling migrants inside cloned truck
In July 2025, a Texas judge handed down a 10 year prison sentence to Cezanne Megel Patterson, 29, of Jackson, Mississippi, for smuggling more than a dozen migrants inside a cloned delivery truck. The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) announced the sentence in a July 30 press release, noting that Patterson is among the first smugglers prosecuted under a 2023 state law that imposes a mandatory 10 year minimum sentence for human smuggling.
According to DPS, the case began on Aug. 30, 2024 when a trooper with the agency’s Highway Patrol pulled over what appeared to be a Lowe’s Home Improvement delivery truck on U.S. Highway 277 near Del Rio. The vehicle had the company’s logo and color scheme but was actually a privately owned truck disguised to look like a commercial vehicle. When the trooper inspected the truck, he discovered 17 migrants crammed inside a three‑foot‑wide false compartment with no ventilation. Patterson, who was driving, was arrested and later charged with smuggling of persons with likelihood of serious bodily injury or death. Prosecutors argued that he endangered the lives of the migrants by forcing them to ride in the enclosed space with no fresh air.
On July 24, 2025 Patterson was sentenced to 10 years in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice following his conviction. DPS South Texas Region Chief Arturo De la Garza said the case illustrates the dangerous lengths smugglers will go to in order to profit from human trafficking and praised the collaboration between troopers and the local Border Prosecution Unit. Suzanne West, district attorney for Texas’ 63rd Judicial District, thanked the DPS trooper who made the arrest and the prosecutors who tried the case, noting that such convictions are only possible through teamwork. She also credited Investigator Tom Wylie for doing the background work that ensured a successful prosecution.
This is one of the first prosecutions carried out under legislation enacted in 2023 that significantly increases penalties for human smuggling and operating stash houses. The law raised the minimum sentence from two years to 10 years in an effort to deter smugglers who have exploited lax penalties in the past. DPS officials said Patterson’s prosecution demonstrates the state’s commitment to working with local authorities to combat transnational criminal organizations and protect migrants from dangerous smuggling schemes. The case also underscores the effectiveness of the state’s Operation Lone Star initiative, which deploys troopers and resources to the border region to intercept smuggling attempts and bring traffickers to justice.