New Jersey Man Sentenced to 10 Years for Texas Human Smuggling Plot After Fleeing State

Cameron Alexander Ford receives 120 months in federal prison for a high-speed human smuggling attempt in Texas and subsequent flight to New Jersey.

By: AXL Media

Published: Mar 5, 2026, 10:21 AM EST

Source: The information in this article was sourced from the U.S. Attorney's Office

A Camden, New Jersey, resident who thought he could escape justice by fleeing across the country has been ordered to serve a decade in federal prison. Cameron Alexander Ford, 23, was sentenced in a Del Rio federal court by U.S. District Judge Ernest Gonzalez. The sentence follows Ford’s guilty plea to conspiracy to transport aliens and placing lives in jeopardy.

The case began on April 6, 2023, when Texas DPS agents attempted to pull over a suspicious vehicle in La Pryor. While several occupants fled on foot—including one Mexican national later confirmed to have no lawful status—the driver took off at a high rate of speed. Troopers searching the area found an abandoned cell phone that proved to be the undoing of the conspiracy. The device contained photos and location data linking Ford to a hotel in Eagle Pass, as well as text conversations detailing the smuggling plot.

Investigators discovered that the vehicle used in the crime was a rental from Philadelphia International Airport, reported stolen just two days after the failed smuggling event. Ford and his co-defendant, John Klotz (also known as "Remy"), had driven the vehicle from New Jersey to the Texas border to carry out the operation. After the failed stop, the duo managed to reach San Antonio and flew back to Philadelphia.

The investigation, part of the nationwide "Operation Take Back America," eventually identified a third conspirator, Van Donovan Brown (aka "Sledge"), who facilitated the logistics via a WhatsApp group chat. Ford was arrested in April 2025. Notably, his 10-year federal sentence will run consecutively to a 47-month sentence he is already serving for a separate carjacking conviction in Philadelphia.

"This smuggler thought that he could come to Texas, break the law... and then resume his life back home as if nothing happened," said U.S. Attorney Justin R. Simmons. "His home for the foreseeable future will be a prison cell." Co-defendants Klotz and Brown have also pleaded guilty and are awaiting sentencing in April.