United States v. Mario Carrillo-Hernandez, United States of America v. Raquel Valencia-Vargas

U.S. Customs officials stopped Carrillo-Hernandez and Valencia-Vargas at the San Ysidro border checkpoint as they were leaving the United States for Mexico. Hernandez and Vargas were asked whether they were carrying money in excess of ten thousand dollars. They both responded in the negative. After further questioning, Hernandez produced Mexican pesos in excess of 31,000 United States dollars.

Hernandez and Vargas were charged with making a false statement to a federal officer, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1001 , knowingly transporting money in excess of $10,000 without making a report, in violation of 31 U.S.C. § 5316 , and structuring financial transactions for purposes of evading reporting requirements, in violation of 31 U.S.C. § 5324 (3). At trial, Hernandez and Vargas were both convicted of the first charge and acquitted of the second charge. The government dismissed the third charge with prejudice after the jury failed to reach a decision on this charge.

At sentencing, the district court determined that Guidelines section 2S1.3(a)(l) was the applicable guideline. Calculating the applicable sentencing range to be 12-18 months, the court sentenced both defendants to 15…