Leader of Guatemala-to-U.S. human smuggling group pleads guilty in L.A. to conspiracy and hostage taking

LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles-based leader of what federal prosecutors called one of the largest human smuggling organizations in the nation pleaded guilty Friday to running the group that illegally brought about 20,000 immigrants from Guatemala into the United States — including seven who died in a car crash.

Eduardo Domingo Renoj-Matul, 52 — known as “Turko” — entered a plea in Los Angeles federal court to one count of conspiring to bring aliens into the U.S. for financial gain and one count of hostage taking.

Sentencing was set for Oct. 2, at which time Renoj-Matul will face up to life in prison, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

A Guatemalan national living without papers in the Westlake district near downtown, Renoj-Matul was arrested in February 2025 together with what prosecutors describe as his “right-hand man,” co-defendant Cristobal Mejia-Chaj, 50, also of Westlake.

Once the immigrants were smuggled into the United States, some were held in stash houses on James M. Wood Boulevard in Westlake or in Phoenix, Arizona, until smuggling fees were paid, authorities said.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office states that Renoj-Matual’s accomplices in Guatemala solicited immigrants to come to the United States, accepted payment of between $15,000 and $18,000 for each person, and coordinated their transport to the United States.

In November 2023, one of the group’s members caused a car accident in Elk City, Oklahoma, while he was smuggling illegal immigrants from New York to Los Angeles. That accident resulted in the deaths of seven people who were passengers in the vehicle he drove. Of the seven people killed, three were minors, including a 4-year-old child, court papers show.

According to the indictment returned last year, the “Renoj-Matul transnational criminal organization” operated for at least a dozen years.

Prosecutors say that in 2024, Renoj-Matul and Mejia-Chaj held hostage two Guatemalan nationals smuggled into the United States who had not paid smuggling fees. The defendants allegedly threatened to kill the victims unless third parties paid for their release.

An April 21 trial is scheduled in downtown Los Angeles for co-defendants José Paxtor-Oxlaj, 45, a driver for the smuggling organization who is incarcerated in Oklahoma in connection with the fatal car accident, and Mejia-Chaj.

Helmer Obispo-Hernández, 42, a lieutenant in the organization, faces federal criminal charges in the case and is a fugitive.