By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
A 22-year-old Houston man faces five felony charges after he allegedly attempted to smuggle a family of undocumented persons from Mexico, police said.
Jose Antonio Jimenez Alfaro, 22, a resident of Houston, was arrested shortly after 7:30 a.m. on Sept. 27, according to an arrest report released recently by the Del Rio Police Department. Alfaro was charged with five counts of the offense of smuggling of persons, all third-degree felonies, the report shows.
DRPD Cpl. Dulce Gonzalez, who serves as the public information spokesman for the police department, spoke to the 830 Times about the arrest.
Gonzalez said Alfaro was arrested by DRPD Cpl. Estevan Hernandez.
“The corporal was on patrol in the area of U.S. Highway 277 South when he heard via police radio from DPS (Texas Department of Public Safety) communications of a possible ‘loaded’ vehicle that was traveling northbound on 277 from Ranch-to-Market Road 693. Communications provided a vehicle description: a red Toyota Corolla,” Gonzalez said.
She said Hernandez saw a red Toyota Corolla in his patrol area and noted the car’s front license plate was obscured.
“He initiated a traffic stop for the offense near 277 South in the Tesoro Hills area, and the vehicle came to a stop near 277 South and Brodbent Avenue. Hernandez approached the driver’s side of the vehicle and noticed no windows were lowered for him, and he was unable to see inside the vehicle due to highly dark-tinted windows,” Gonzalez said.
Hernandez reported he knocked on the back left passenger window and said it was slightly lowered.
“At this time, he noticed three small children and an adult female concealing themselves in the back seat of the vehicle. The children appeared to be laying on top of each other. The driver was identified as Jimenez, and he told the officer, ‘There’s four back there’,” Gonzalez said.
Gonzalez said Hernandez later determined all five of Jimenez’s passengers, an adult man, an adult woman and three children, were residents of the Mexico state of Michoacán.
Hernandez reported he advised Jimenez of his Miranda rights and said Jimenez waived them, agreeing to give a statement to police.
“He informed the officer he picked up these people in the Eagle Pass area and his intent was to drop them off before the U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint on U.S. Highway 90 East (near Uvalde). He was asked how much he was going to be paid, and he refused to answer,” Gonzalez said.
Gonzalez said Hernandez later asked Jimenez again how much he would be paid, and this time Jimenez replied he was to have been paid $900.
Gonzalez said since three of the persons Jimenez was attempting to smuggle were younger than 18 years of age, those three charges would be enhanced to second-degree felonies.
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