San Onofre
The U.S. Border Patrol announced Friday that its agents earlier in the week arrested three men suspected of transporting illegal aliens in trucks carrying coffins.
Marcos Santana-Ventura, 33, a U.S. citizen, and Jose Eloy Chavarin-Mariscal, 23, were arrested Monday at the checkpoint near San Onofre on Interstate 5, said Ed Pyeatt, a border patrol spokesman.
Santana-Ventura was driving a cargo truck carrying 44 aliens when agents arrested him, while Chavarin-Mariscal was driving a car behind the truck, Pyeatt said. The truck, from the Maris Casket Co. in Southeast San Diego, contained dozens of caskets, which the aliens were hiding behind.
The third suspect, Jose Ramiro Ramirez-Valencia, 44, was arrested Wednesday in Logan Heights. All three men will be arraigned in Federal Court Feb. 14.
Pyeatt said investigators believe the men were holding the aliens at the casket company on the 9000 block of 33rd Street before transporting them north in a cargo truck.
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