Nearly two weeks after what may be the deadliest smuggling event in United States history in which 53 people died from heat-related illness in the back of a tractor-trailer in San Antonio, smugglers continue to try to move large groups of people in the same way.
However, this time, alleged smuggler Thomas Taylor Charlton didn’t make it past the Sarita Border Patrol checkpoint on U.S. Highway 77, where agents found 70 people hidden inside a trailer loaded with rotten peppers.
The smugglers made an apparent effort to provide those 70 people with a way out of the locked trailer by giving a Mexican citizen in the country illegally who spoke English a walkie-talkie to communicate with Charlton in case the refrigerated unit failed. They also issued the group two hatchets to break their way through the roof hatch in case of an emergency, according to a criminal complaint.
The incident happened at 1:45 a.m. Sunday, when Charlton approached the checkpoint in a blue 2015 Peterbilt 579 tractor truck pulling a white 2011 Great Dane refrigerated trailer.
As he approached, Border Patrol agents noted he struggled to shift gears and maneuver the trailer, and when asked what he was hauling, Charlton said he was transporting chili peppers, according to the complaint.
“Additionally, (agent) Cruz-Garcia noticed Charlton was wearing a hat that read ‘Purple Heart Recipient.’ (Agent) Cruz-Garcia asked Charlton during what years he served in the military and in what branch of the service and Charlton became visibly nervous,” the complaint stated.
The agent also noted that Charlton gripped the steering wheel tightly while audibly gulping as he answered questions.
Border Patrol agents said in the complaint that a K-9 alerted to the trailer and Charlton was referred for a secondary inspection.
However, Charlton did not have a key to the trailer, so agents used bolt cutters to open it.
“(Agent) Bomar and (agent) Jones searched inside of the trailer and discovered 70 individuals hiding in the trailer commingled amongst a cargo of rotten peppers,” the complaint stated.
Border Patrol determined they were all in the country illegally, and a Mexican citizen agreed to speak with Border Patrol, telling agents how he was given a walkie-talkie to communicate with the driver in the event of an emergency, like “the refrigerator unit shutting off and the temperature rising inside of the trailer.”
“(The man) stated that the group was given two hatchets and instructed that if necessary they could use the hatchets to break their way through a roof hatch,” the complaint states.
Charlton made a first appearance Monday in Corpus Christi federal court in front of U.S. Magistrate Judge Mitchel Neurock, who ordered him temporarily held without bond pending further court proceedings.
