A 21-year-old Chicago woman remains in federal custody after pleading guilty to smuggling over 31 pounds of cocaine from Mexico.
Authorities allege the drugs were headed to Illinois.
Jennifer Hernandez told federal authorities she did not know she was crossing narcotics when she drove her vehicle from Mexico in to the United States, a federal criminal complaint states.
Hernandez appeared Wednesday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Ronal G. Morgan in Brownsville, where she entered her guilty plea. She is scheduled to be arraigned Aug.24 before U.S. District Judge Rolando Olvera Jr.
According to the federal criminal complaint, Hernandez on April 4 attempted to cross Veterans International Bridge in Brownsville in a 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee. She told U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers she was visiting her grandparents in Mexico and was returning to her home in Illinois.
Her vehicle was referred to a secondary inspection area, where a CBP canine alerted authorities to the presence of drugs in the Jeep, the federal criminal complaint states. The officer searched the vehicle and found 14 bundles concealed in a non-factory compartment of the Jeep.
The bundles were examined, and they tested positive for cocaine, according to authorities.
Hernandez admitted she had traveled to Mexico to visit with a man she identified as “Compa” and not her grandparents. She stated she had met with Compa on several occasions, the federal criminal complaint read.
According to the federal criminal complaint, Hernandez said Compa would tell her to go to different gas stations in Michigan and Illinois and hand over the Jeep to unknown people. She would leave the vehicle and keys with the unknown person and leave for a few hours until she was told to return.
The federal criminal complaint states Compa would pay Hernandez $900.
Hernandez claimed she did not know she had narcotics in the vehicle, the federal criminal complaint read.
