4 Indicted in Santa Ana Smuggling of Illegal Aliens

A federal grand jury has indicted four Santa Ana residents who allegedly smuggled more than 100 illegal aliens a week since at least early February from Mexico to Orange County, the U.S. attorney’s office said Tuesday.

Rafael Avila Barajas, 39, and his wife, Arcelia Lopez de Avila, 42, allegedly ran the smuggling ring out of their home on West 10th Street and their restaurant, La Vaquita, on West 1st Street, according to a three-count indictment made public Tuesday by federal officials.

Joaquin Galan Gama, 19, and Roberto Zuniga Zarco, 30, who allegedly assisted the couple in operating the ring, were also named in the indictment.

All four were charged with conspiracy to transport and harbor illegal aliens.

Lopez de Avila, who is free on $10,000 bail, denied the charges in an interview at her home Tuesday.

“I think they are making a lot of this up,” said Lopez de Avila, a naturalized U.S. citizen. “I’ve been living here for over 22 years, and neither me nor my husband is involved in any illegal activities.”

Lopez de Avila said she often works 16 hours or more in the restaurant. “If I’m making all that money they say I am, wouldn’t it be stupid for me to work that hard?” she said.

U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service agents were alerted to the ring in February by a man who said he had been recruited by Avila Barajas, who was using the name Sosa, to drive illegal aliens from San Diego to Santa Ana, according to court documents.

The man, a confidential informant, said Avila Barajas or an associate recruited for their operation Anglo drivers at the Salvation Army on East 3rd Street in Santa Ana, and provided them with late-model--in some cases stolen--vehicles, “so as not to arouse the suspicion of the (U.S.) Border Patrol agents at the San Clemente checkpoint,” according to an affidavit filed by INS Special Agent David Arias.

The informant said that only four or five aliens were smuggled at a time, concealed in the car trunks.

Between March 8 and April 6, the informant drove eight loads of illegal aliens from San Diego to Santa Ana, alerting investigators beforehand and sometimes wearing a hidden microphone, the affidavit said.

After the April 6 delivery, INS agents arrested the four suspects. They also took into custody eight illegal aliens being transferred from one car to another in a parking lot a few blocks from La Vaquita restaurant, and six more at the Avilas’ house.