Border agents in the Falfurrias area arrested three people over the course of two days who were allegedly trying to smuggle as many as 60 people into the country, a criminal complaint said.
Border Patrol agents stopped the driver of a blue tractor identified as Eric Mendiola to inspect his vehicle, which was hauling a white trailer, about 11:15 p.m. Sunday. According to the complaint, the agents’ service K-9 made an alert on the vehicle as it crossed the Javier Vega Jr. Border Patrol Checkpoint in Falfurrias.
Mendiola was traveling with a woman and her child who he claimed were his wife and daughter. He also claimed he was hauling broccoli.
When agents opened the trailer, however, they found a total of 31 people hidden “on top and between pallets of broccoli,” the complaint said.
Mendiola was taken into custody, along with the 31 people inside the trailer, and interviewed by Homeland Security Investigations agents. He told investigators he had left the trailer yard around 9:30 p.m. and traveled north without stopping until reaching the checkpoint.
Mendiola was previously arrested for attempting to smuggle people into the country in September 2016 and March 2019.
Agents found another 29 people in another trailer during a separate encounter that day.
Felix Leonardo Rizo-Bernal and Maria Del Rosario Torres-Castro were arrested after they allegedly tried to hide people in a Volvo tractor and a white trailer.
When they arrived at the checkpoint about 11:45 p.m. Sunday, Rizo-Bernal told agents he and his wife were on their way to Dallas to deliver produce, according to the complaint.
But after an inspection, agents said they found 29 people hidden in the trailer along with a backpack containing U.S. currency, candy apples, candies, several lighters, a glass pipe, and toiletries.
The pair was carrying a total of $16,760, according to the complaint.
Rizo-Bernal and Torres-Castro were taken into custody along with the 29 people and interviewed by HSI agents.
The couple told authorities that Rizo-Bernal had received a call from his boss asking him to drive the trailer to Dallas. Both claimed ownership of the backpack, but told agents different stories about where the money came from, agents said.
Both smuggling incidents resulted in the arrest of 60 people who entered the country illegally.
