News - Local
Van smuggling illegal aliens stopped in Pueblo County
Posted: Oct 8, 2010 12:17 PM by Bea Karnes
Updated: Oct 8, 2010 2:50 PM
A van carrying ten people, all illegal aliens, was stopped just south of Pueblo Tuesday afternoon. All were taken into custody.
Two men, Santos Miranda-Mendoza and Walter Zuniga-Sosa, admitted that they were paid to smuggle the others from Houston to Los Angeles, according to an arrest affidavit. They've each been booked into the Pueblo County Jail on eight felony charges of Smuggling of Humans and one misdemeanor charge of Child Abuse.
The child abuse charge was filed because a 17-year-old was riding between the back seat and the cargo door. The other seven who were being smuggled are all adults. They were originally from Honduras, El Salvador, Mexico and Guatamala. All have been turned over to ICE.
The men were being smuggled from Houston to Los Angeles.
After the initial stop by a state patrol trooper, an investigator from the Patrol's Immigration Enforcement Unit took over the case.
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