Smuggling 'em in on the Homefront!

[RedGlitter]

New York Times-

June 12, 2007

3 Guardsmen Charged With Human Smuggling

By RALPH BLUMENTHAL

HOUSTON, June 11 — Three members of the Texas National Guard helping patrol the Mexican border have been charged with human smuggling after federal agents found one of them in uniform driving a van crammed with 24 illegal immigrants north of Laredo, the Justice Department said Monday.

The guardsmen, including two sergeants, were assigned to Operation Jump Start assisting the Border Patrol and had run multiple smuggling trips at fees of $1,500 to $2,000 per passenger, according to the complaint by the United States attorney for the Southern District of Texas, Don DeGabrielle.

The complaint cited cellphone text messages exchanged among them like “24 will b tuff 2 fit but ill try.

The driver accused in the case, Pfc. Jose Rodrigo Torres, 26, of Laredo, was arrested late last Thursday. The two other soldiers, Sgt. Julio Cesar Pacheco, 25, also of Laredo, and Sgt. Clarence Hodge Jr., 36, of Fort Worth, were arrested Friday, and all three appeared in federal court in Laredo early Monday. The federal government, citing policy, declined to release their official booking photographs.

The men were ordered held in the Webb County jail in Laredo on $75,000 bail, pending a preliminary hearing June 19 or a possible federal indictment on smuggling conspiracy charges, which carry penalties of up to 10 years in prison and fines of up to $250,000. The three have not entered pleas.

Calls to what appeared to be the homes of two of the men went unanswered; and the home of the third could not be immediately located.

The head of the Texas Military Forces, Adjutant General Chuck Rodriguez, said in a statement that he was “extremely disappointed and noted that 23,000 other Texas National Guard soldiers and aviators were serving around the world “honorably and with distinction.

In the past year, about 1,500 Texas men and women at a time have joined 6,000 other Guard troops in California, Arizona and New Mexico on surveillance duty to help the Border Patrol. A total of 33,000 Guard members from Texas have served on the border.

Just last month, Texas Guard members helped seize more than $500,000 worth of cocaine at a border checkpoint, and in April Guard troops from Texas were among the first emergency responders when a tornado leveled much of the border town of Eagle Pass.

The three arrests were first reported Friday night in Laredo by the NBC television affiliate KGNS.

According to the federal complaint, Private Torres was driving 24 illegal immigrants in a white Ford van leased to the National Guard and was stopped last Wednesday at a Border Patrol checkpoint on Interstate 35 about 30 miles north of Laredo.

Citing an account “freely stated by Private Torres after his arrest, Jose Melero, a special agent with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement bureau, said Private Torres evaded detection with the help of Sergeant Hodge, who “approached the van to make it appear that they were doing National Guardsmen business. The complaint did not say whether Sergeant Hodge was in uniform.

Afterward, Special Agent Melero said, Private Torres “left the checkpoint via the service lane, thereby avoiding an immigration inspection.

The next day, the complaint continued, Private Torres was driving the van about 35 miles farther north on I-35 near Cotulla when he was stopped around 9:40 p.m. by Border Patrol agents. No reason for the stop was given. But Special Agent Melero’s statement said, “As Border Patrol agents approached the vehicle, they observed several individuals hiding inside the van.

The complaint said Private Torres subsequently “admitted to transporting aliens on approximately seven different occasions and being paid $1,000 to $3,500 a trip by Sergeant Pacheco. The complaint quoted three passengers as saying they had paid $1,500 to $2,000 each to be smuggled to Dallas.

The fate of the passengers was not given in the complaint, but at least three were identified as material witnesses who could be called to testify in court.

According to the complaint, a text message retrieved from Private Torres’s cellphone and signed “PAC said in part, “we need to take 24 people to make that happen and you will get 3500 does that sound good. Private Torres, the document said, responded, “tuff 2 fit but ill try.

At one point, the complaint said, Sergeant Hodge also sent this text message to Private Torres: “u wanna do 1 2mrw? They supplyin da van.

Again, it said, he agreed, replying: “ill only do 1 run @ no more than 20 people @ $150 a person.

[zinkyusa]

They will enjoy the accomodations at Leavenworth.:sneaky:

[KB.]

Hang em