COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- An illegal immigrant from Mexico who admitted smuggling five people into the United States has been sentenced 90 days, according to the Colorado Springs Gazette.

The newspaper reported Rogelio Contreras-Acevedo, 30, pleaded guilty to a felony of attempted smuggling of humans as part of a plea deal with prosecutors. He was originally charged with a felony that could have landed him in prison for up to 12 years.

Contreras-Acevedo was pulled over on Interstate 25 near Fountain in April. He told a state trooper he was paid $5,000 to take five illegal immigrants from Phoenix. He dropped three people off in Albuquerque and was to be paid $900 more to drop the remaining two in Denver.

Contreras-Acevedo was also sentenced to two years' probation and ordered he not return to the country illegally, or face prison time. He will be turned over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement after his release from jail.

The arrest was made by a member of the Colorado State Patrol's special immigration enforcement unit. The unit's primary responsibility is investigating illegal immigration and human smuggling. Troopers get four weeks of special training. In the first year of its existence, from June 2007 to April 2008, the unit arrested nearly 800 suspected illegal immigrants and investigated 33 human smuggling cases.