It was a special delivery indeed — 13 suspected illegal immigrants from Mexico stuffed in a phony UPS van.
The U.S. Border Patrol said
Tuesday that agents stopped the van Friday as the driver tried to
circumvent a highway checkpoint near Niland, about 150 miles east of
San Diego in California's Imperial Valley, near the Mexican border.
The van looked like a legitimate
United Parcel Service Inc. delivery vehicle, except the company decal
on the back door was slightly crooked.
The driver, U.S. citizen Daniel
Lopez, was charged in federal court in El Centro with illegal
transportation of aliens, authorities said.
Carlos Goens, the driver of
another truck, was charged with the same crime after being detained at
a Border Patrol checkpoint. He is suspected of coordinating with the
UPS van.
Migrants told authorities they
had agreed to pay between $5,000 and $8,000 each to be smuggled into
the United States, according to the criminal complaint.
An agent reported seeing Goens
leave a suspected stash house for illegal immigrants in the town of
Brawley, leading authorities to the UPS vehicle. Another agent pulled
over the UPS van at a mobile home park in Niland.
Attorneys for Goens and Lopez did not immediately respond to phone messages Wednesday.
Border Patrol agents recently
began visiting Imperial Valley businesses and government agencies to
warn about smugglers cloning their vehicles, said spokesman Adrian
Corona. Telltale signs include misspellings on agency or company logos
and crooked decals.
In recent years, smugglers have used fake vehicles of the California Highway Patrol and Imperial Irrigation District.
Last year, a white van filled
with 13 illegal immigrants from Mexico dressed as clean-cut Marines
were stopped at a Border Patrol checkpoint near San Diego.
A Border Patrol agent who had
served in the Marine Corps wasn't fooled, especially when the driver
didn't know the Corps' birthday.