Border Patrol found 26 people inside a refrigerated tractor trailer on Monday at the Falfurrias checkpoint, according to a criminal complaint affidavit.
The driver, Cresencio Rodriguez of Edinburg, was charged with bringing in and harboring non U.S. citizens and knowingly moving them by means of transportation within the U.S.
According to the affidavit, Rodriguez arrived at the checkpoint in a blue Kenworth tractor truck that was pulling a refrigerated trailer at about 10:48 p.m.
Rodriguez told agents he was by himself and was hauling produce he had picked up in McAllen.
But a K-9 alerted agents to the truck and Rodriguez was referred to a secondary inspection, the document said.
That’s when agents found 26 people trying to hide behind produce boxes. They were from Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.
“Rodriguez exercised his right to an attorney and refused to make a statement,” the affidavit said.
Authorities discovered that Rodriguez worked for a company named R2R United Logistics and had been employed with them since 2018 after processing paperwork they found inside the blue Kenworth truck, according to the document.
The document states the company provided screenshots that revealed Rodriguez had left his address in Edinburg, traveled to a truck stop in the same city where he parked for ten minutes and then traveled to McAllen to pick up the produce.
At 9:06 p.m. that same day, Rodriguez traveled back to his home address and spent 16 minutes there before departing to the checkpoint, the affidavit said.
“The dispatcher from R2R Logistics stated that it was not normal for Rodriguez to be on that road after picking up a load of produce,” the affidavit said. “The dispatcher was also not sure why the street number to which he returned after picking up the produce was off from his actual residence number.”
Authorities asked two people traveling in the back of the truck to identify Rodriguez from a photo lineup, but neither of them were able to do it, the document said.
Rodriguez is set to appear before Magistrate Judge Julie K Hampton on Tuesday.
