A Chula Vista man who crashed into a boulder and injured seven undocumented people he was smuggling has been sentenced to two years in federal prison.
Keith Lamon Grier, 24, was allowed to remain free on $25,000 bond and told to surrender to prison on or by June 4 by U.S. District Court Judge Anthony Battaglia on Feb. 20 in San Diego.
Grier currently has a construction job and has completed an alcohol treatment program in the South Bay since the Feb. 26, 2017, incident in East County.
The prosecutor sought a 37-month prison term while his attorney, Ryan Fraser, asked for 18 months.
“The crash itself and the experience of custody were a major wake-up call,” said Fraser. “It is unmistakable that he has come a long way since that serious mistake a year ago.”
Fraser wrote in a court document that Grier was injured in another traffic accident and the sentencing was delayed so he could finish medical treatment.
Grier pleaded guilty to transporting an undocumented person into the U.S. for financial gain as part of alien smuggling. Other charges of transporting aliens were dropped.
Grier admitted he was drinking alcohol on the day he crashed into the boulder, according to court records. He is a U.S. citizen.
The maximum sentence was 10 years. Other counts of transporting undocumented aliens were dropped.
It was raining Feb. 26 at 11:49 a.m. when Grier was transporting seven undocumented persons when he crashed into a boulder outside the entrance to Lake Morena County Park.
The Chevrolet SUV veered into the northbound lane and crashed through a wood railing, striking a boulder. Everyone was injured.
The foot guide, Luis Alvarez-Delgado, 48, pleaded guilty to improper entry by an undocumented person, and other charges were dropped.
A federal magistrate sentenced Alvarez-Delgado to time served, which was 47 days he spent in the Metropolitan Correctional Center and he was deported.
Several people in the van told agents they were supposed to pay about $5,000 or more to be smuggled into the country.
