GREAT FALLS – A woman from Honduras who was accused of illegally reentering the country and transporting a Mexican national was found guilty by a federal jury today, Acting U.S. Attorney Mark Steger Smith said.
Following a three-day trial, Yolanda Ernestina Soto-Antunez, 41, was found guilty of being in the county illegally and transporting someone in the country illegally. Soto-Antunez faces up to five years of prison, a $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release.
Chief U.S. District Judge Brian M. Morris presided and will determine a sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors. Sentencing is set for July 9, 2026, Soto-Antunez was detained pending further proceedings.
The government alleged in court documents and at trial that Soto-Antunez was illegally transporting a Mexican national in the U.S. and that she had illegally reentered the country in 2016.
A Phillips County Sheriff’s deputy pulled over Soto-Antunez on March 6, 2026, on Highway 2 near Malta for speeding. The deputy eventually requested translation help from two U.S. Border Patrol agents after he struggled to understand Soto-Antunez’s broken English. Law enforcement learned Soto-Antunez was in the county illegally from Honduras and the passenger in her car was in the country illegally from Mexico.
Through the course of their investigation, agents found $18,000 in a duffle bag that belonged to her passenger. He told agents he was traveling to Washington to borrow an additional $12,000 from a cousin for a total of $30,000 to pay for his sister to be transported illegally into the U.S. He was told to give the money to Soto-Antunez, who would deliver it to a group in Tijuana to get his sister across the border.
Agents also learned Soto-Antunez had been previously deported from the U.S. in June 2012 and had reentered the country illegally in August 2016.
This case is part of Operation Take Back America , a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office prosecuted the case. The investigation was conducted by the U.S. Border Patrol, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Phillip’s County Sheriff’s Office.
Source: U.S. Attorney’s Office — Montana — U.S. Department of Justice press release.