Man crashes into telephone pole during Roma smuggling attempt

A Mexican national who had been residing in Roma crashed into a telephone pole as he attempted to smuggle two siblings also illegally present in the United States on Friday.

Jose Ivan Sanchez-Leal is charged with knowingly attempting to transport people present in the country illegally, one of which warned him to slow down before he ultimately crashed his vehicle.

According to the criminal complaint, Border Patrol agents observed a white BMW sedan sideswipe a gray Chevrolet Colorado before crashing into the telephone pole at about 7:20 a.m.

The agents then saw the driver, later identified as Sanchez, who was wearing a light green sweater with shorts, escape the sedan through the front passenger door, leaving the siblings in the backseat, but he was “immediately” apprehended, according to the complaint.

All three were placed under arrest and transported to the Rio Grande Border Patrol Station.

During an interview with investigators, Sanchez admitted to being illegally present in the U.S. for a month and had been smuggling others for $50 per person.

Sanchez said this was his fourth time smuggling people.

He explained that a person called “El Barbas” provided him with the vehicle to use in order to pick up people illegally crossing into the country and said he would normally transfer the people to another driver at a gym close to where he crashed, but on this occasion, he was told to drop them off at an unknown house in Roma, according to the complaint.

The people he was transporting were a brother and sister from Guatemala who had crossed the Rio Grande with two foot guides using a raft.

The brother told investigators that he feared for his life because Sanchez was traveling at a high rate of speed and told him to slow down.

His sister said she was also scared “because when they crashed, the doors were stuck shut and the driver exited quickly and didn’t try to help them.”

Both siblings identified Sanchez in a photo lineup.

Sanchez will appear before Magistrate Judge J. Scott Hacker Wednesday for a preliminary and detention hearing in the afternoon.