Raul Enriquez-Arambula, the top goal scorer for Club Tijuana Xoloitzcuintles was sentenced today to credit for 86 days already served in custody for a human smuggling attempt across the Otay Mesa Port of Entry.
The 37-year-old soccer star pleaded guilty to driving two undocumented women, both Mexican Citizens, to the border on Sept.11. According to Court Documents, the women told officers they agreed to pay between $15,000 to $18,500 to be brought into the United States.
According to a probable cause statement filed in federal court, Enriquez was driving a 2016 Cadillac SRX inspected by a U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer just after 5 a.m. The document indicates Enriquez told the officer he was traveling to Orange County to play soccer.
The officer conducting the inspection saw a blanket covering something in the rear of Enriquez's car, asked him to open the rear hatch and found two women concealed underneath the blanket, according to the document. Enriquez allegedly told officers that he did not know the women were in his car or how they got there.
Defense Attorney Anton Vialtsin wrote in a sentencing memorandum that “public shaming and probable career-opportunity loss already served as massive punishment to him”.
Enriquez-Arambula played for the Xolos from 2007 until 2013, during which time he scored 81 goals, nearly twice as many as the second-place goal scorer.
