Two people this week pleaded not guilty to separate indictments alleging they harbored nearly 120 people in the country illegally at two stash houses during different busts over two days in May.
A federal grand jury last Wednesday indicted Olivia Jannet Garza-Barrientos on three counts related to allegations she operated a stash house where 67 people were harbored and Antonio Adolfo Perez for harboring 52 people.
Perez, an American citizen born in 2000, pleaded not guilty Tuesday while Garza-Barrientos, a Mexican citizen born in 1982, entered her plea on Wednesday.
Border Patrol alleges Garza-Barrientos is responsible for the first incident where agents found 67 people being harbored in a Rio Grande City residence.
According to a criminal complaint, Border Patrol received information that a property at 25 Cuates Lane was being used as a stash house resulting in a May 17 knock-and-talk conducted by the Starr County Sheriff’s Office.
That’s when two people ran from the back of the property to an open field where a pursuit ensued with Border Patrol managing to catch one of the subjects, Garza-Barrientos.
The complaint says she told Border Patrol she owned the property and then gave them written and verbal consent to search the property, where agents found nine people in a main building and 58 others in two adjacent trailers.
Garza-Barrientos told Border Patrol she had received $10,000 to harbor people and was set to receive another $10,000 for the group apprehended on May 17, according to the complaint.
The next day, Border Patrol received information about a stash house in San Juan.
Agents and the Hidalgo County Sheriff’s Office arrived at the residence and made contact with Perez, who was sitting in the driver seat of a gray Jeep Wrangler parked at the residence, Border Patrol said.
He told agents he was just picking up a friend and was detained while authorities went and knocked on the front door of the residence, according to the complaint.
That’s where Border Patrol says it found 52 people being harbored in the country illegally.
A material witness in the case identified Perez as a caretaker because of his pink hair, according to Border Patrol.
Both remain jailed.
