Guatemalan National Sentenced to Nearly 22 Years in Federal Prison for Leading Massive Human Smuggling Ring, Holding Migrants Hostage

LOS ANGELES – An illegal alien from Guatemala was sentenced today to 262 months in federal prison for leading one of the nation’s largest human smuggling organizations, a ring that smuggled approximately 20,000 illegal immigrants from Guatemala to the United States over a five-year span, held some of them hostage, and was responsible for a car accident that killed seven migrants, two of them young children.

Eduardo Domingo Renoj-Matul, 53, a.k.a. “Turko,” “El Jefe,” “Patrón,” and “El Gallo,” who most recently lived in the Westlake neighborhood near downtown Los Angeles, was sentenced by United States District Judge Cynthia Valenzuela, who also ordered him to pay $64,945 in restitution in connection with a November 2023 car accident resulting in the deaths of seven illegal immigrants – including two children ages 4 and 6 years old. An additional restitution hearing related to Renoj-Matul’s kidnapping victims will be scheduled at a later date.

Renoj-Matul pleaded guilty on March 6 to one count of conspiracy to bring aliens to the United States, transport aliens in the United States, and harbor aliens in the United States for private financial gain and one count of hostage taking. He has been in federal custody since February 2025.

“This criminal built an illicit money-making machine off the desperation of illegal immigrants,” said First Assistant United States Attorney Bill Essayli. “This case, which involved hostage taking, sexual assault, and children killed in a car accident, proves that smuggling aliens into our country is not a harmless crime. It is for the safety of our citizens and immigrants themselves that we zealously police and protect our borders.”

According to court documents, Renoj-Matul first worked for then acted as a leader in the smuggling organization and specialized in the smuggling of illegal aliens from Guatemala to the United States, the transportation and movement of those illegal aliens within the United States, and the harboring, concealing, and shielding of illegal aliens within the United States. This organization moved approximately 20,000 illegal aliens from 2019 through July 2024.

Associates in Guatemala who solicited illegal aliens to come to the United States accepted payment of between $15,000 and $18,000 for each illegal alien to be smuggled into the United States and coordinated the journey of the illegal aliens from Guatemala to the United States.

Mexican smuggling organizations who accepted Guatemalan illegal aliens in southern Mexico transported them through Mexico and then smuggled those illegal aliens across the U.S.-Mexico border.

In the United States, co-conspirators within the organization oversaw smuggling cells, teams of drivers who transported illegal aliens, and operators of stash houses where illegal aliens were held while they were within the United States.

Co-conspirators operated an illegal alien stash house located on James M. Wood Boulevard in the Westlake district of Los Angeles. Illegal aliens smuggled by the organization were brought to this house. After an illegal alien’s smuggling fee was paid, the illegal alien was transported by co-conspirators to another destination within the United States. If an illegal alien’s smuggling fees were not paid, Renoj-Matul and other co-conspirators would hold that person against their will at the Westlake house until their fee was paid.

In retaliation for one victim who had not paid her smuggling fees, Renoj-Matul held her against her will, “sexually assaulted her, forced her to work demeaning jobs, mistreated her, and threatened her family in an effort to extract payment of the smuggling debt,” prosecutors argued in a sentencing memorandum. Other co-conspirators transported and coordinated the transport of illegal aliens for Renoj-Matul from Guatemala, through Mexico, to the United States and then throughout various destinations within the United States. Within the United States, co-conspirators drove illegal aliens to other destinations in vehicles provided by Renoj-Matul and others for a fee paid by the aliens.

Renoj-Matul directed that the transportation of proceeds from human smuggling be transported from Los Angeles to Phoenix to be given to the Mexican smuggling organization and pay the smuggling organization’s expenses.

Renoj-Matul arranging for co-conspirators to transport illegal immigrants to Alabama, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Mississippi, New York, Tennessee, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. He admitted in his plea agreement that at all relevant times, he acted for the purpose of private financial gain.

In 2024, after a third party reneged on paying a victim’s smuggling fees, co-conspirators in Guatemala and Renoj-Matul called the victim’s mother and threatened to harm the victim, including by warning the victim “would come home in a box” if her smuggling fees were not paid, according to court documents. For a two-month period from May 2024 to July 2024, the victim was held hostage at the house in the Westlake area of Los Angeles.

Renoj-Matul also held hostage another victim – an illegal immigrant from Guatemala –from April 2024 to July 2024. He knowingly and intentionally seized and detained, and threatened to kill, injure, and continue to detain the victim to compel third persons to pay smuggling fees to the hostage takers as an explicit condition for the victim’s release. Relatedly, Cristóbal Mejia-Chaj, 51, of Westlake, was sentenced today by Judge Valenzuela to 33 months in federal prison. He pleaded guilty on March 25 to one count of conspiracy to bring aliens to the United States, transport aliens in the United States, and harbor aliens in the United States for private financial gain. His restitution hearing is scheduled for December 11.

José Paxtor-Oxlaj, 46, a co-defendant, was sentenced by Judge Valenzuela on July 31 to 78 months in federal prison and ordered him to pay $64,945 in restitution in connection with the fatal November 2023 car accident. Paxtor-Oxlaj is incarcerated in Oklahoma state prison in connection with that fatal crash. He pleaded guilty on April 13 to one count of conspiracy to bring aliens to the United States, transport aliens in the United States, and harbor aliens in the United States for private financial fain and resulting in death.

Helmer Obispo-Hernández, 43, a.k.a. “Xavi,” a lieutenant in the criminal organization, faces federal criminal charges in this case and is a fugitive.

Homeland Security Investigations’ (HSI) El Camino Real Financial Crimes Task Force, HSI’s Figueroa Initiative Gang and Human Trafficking Task Force, United States Border Patrol, and the Inglewood Police Department investigated this matter.

Assistant United States Attorneys Kelly Larocque of the Transnational Organized Crime Section and Lana Morton Owens of the National Security Division prosecuted this case.