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The owners of a Los Fresnos bakery who are accused of harboring and concealing non-citizens are ready to go to trial in Brownsville federal court.

Leonardo Baez and Nora Alicia Avila-Guel, the owners of Abby’s Bakery, were arrested on Feb. 12 after an anonymous call to the Homeland Security Investigations tip line in December of last year.

During the investigation, HSI special agents discovered eight individuals who were allegedly in the country illegally and living in a room right next to the bakery labeled “Unit 5”.

According to one of the investigators, Baez and Avila-Guel admitted to knowing that the people were in the country illegally. Further investigation revealed that six of the eight individuals held temporary visas while the other two were in the country illegally.

The bakery owners were arrested and made their first appearance in Brownsville federal court on Feb. 21. U.S. Magistrate Judge Karen Betancourt issued each owner $100,000 bonds with $15,000 cash deposits. They have since returned to work at their bakery.

A final pretrial conference was held last Thursday, court records show. Attorneys representing the bakery owners said that they are ready to go to trial in what they consider an unprecedented case.

Jaime Diez, who is representing Avila-Guel, said that he and his client are prepared to move forward with the case.

“I mean, nobody likes to go to trial, but we have to go,” Diez said. “What they’ve been charging — we believe that they will not be able to prove that she harbored those people. We’re ready to go to trial and get our day in court, and I think that she will be found not guilty.”

Jury selection for the case is scheduled for Monday, July 14 with the trial expected to begin later that week.

Sergio Villarreal, who is representing Baez, had previously described the arrests as politically motivated.

“This is scary. They are setting a precedent for what’s going to happen in the area. This feels like a political raid,” Villarreal said immediately following the bakery owners’ first court appearance in February.

Diez said that much has changed in the few months since his client was arrested.

“I think that everything we’ve seen since then is very unprecedented,” Diez said. “Every day we see a restaurant, business, store, a place getting raided and people getting arrested. It’s just a different world.”

The post Los Fresnos bakery owners ready for trial, jury selection set for July 14 appeared first on MyRGV.com.