The former crime victims’ coordinator for the Starr County District Attorney’s Office was sentenced to three years in prison on Tuesday after confessing to using a county vehicle to smuggle immigrants to Houston.

According to a criminal complaint, Bernice Annette Garza was arrested on Dec. 2022 during a traffic stop in Victoria County after the sheriff’s office there noted that the vehicle registered with the Starr County District Attorney’s Office was making “numerous unauthorized trips to the Houston area.”

Two other individuals in the vehicle who were identified as her co-conspirators were also arrested.

One of the individuals, Magali Rosa, was the driver of the vehicle and told authorities Garza was the Starr County district attorney during the traffic stop, the complaint added. She later confessed to making nearly 46 smuggling trips from Rio Grande City to Houston with the other suspects in the government vehicle.

Shortly after her arrest, Garza was fired following an investigation held by the Starr County DA's office alongside the Texas Rangers and Homeland Security Investigations, according to a previous report. 

Following her prison sentence, Garza will be on supervised release for two years, federal court records show.

Garza remains out on bond and will later voluntarily surrender, according to court records.