8 Indicted on Smuggling Charges

A human smuggling ring operating in Orange and San Bernardino counties brought more than 1,200 undocumented immigrants into Southern California during the last two years, federal officials said Wednesday.

In a five-count federal indictment unsealed Wednesday, authorities allege eight men ran a smuggling ring that sometimes brought as many as 100 undocumented immigrants into the Southland each month.

“With this week’s arrests, we have dismantled a major human smuggling network operating in Orange and San Bernardino counties,” said Kumar Kibble, assistant special agent-in-charge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Orange County.

“As this case shows, [we are] targeting not only the criminal networks directly responsible for the smuggling activity, but also those businesses that provide logistical support that helps further this highly lucrative illegal enterprise.”

There are about 10 such apprehensions each year in Southern California, one of the top hubs for undocumented immigrants in the country, after southern Arizona, he said.

This indictment is considered to have a greater impact than most because it is believed to have dismantled a smuggling organization, including its leader, a travel agency that helped immigrants move to other cities in the United States and van drivers who moved the immigrants across the border, he said.

The indictment comes just two weeks after four suspected immigrant smugglers were arrested in Orange when police freed three Mexicans allegedly being held for ransom.

Other cases have been highlighted in the news in recent years. In May 2004, 79 illegal immigrants were found in a single-story Canoga Park house.

The ring broken up this week allegedly brought immigrants in vans across the U.S. border with Mexico and placed them in a variety of apartments and houses in Orange County, mostly in Anaheim, Kibble said.

While the immigrants waited in the drop houses, smugglers sought final payment from relatives. The ring used houses in San Bernardino County after the federal government executed search warrants at the Orange County locations last year, Kibble said.

At least two of the eight men indicted are undocumented immigrants themselves, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.

The alleged ring leader, Emilio Mayorales, 42, a legal U.S. resident, was arrested at his Anaheim residence Tuesday. He was charged with conspiracy to transport and harbor illegal aliens and faces up to 10 years in federal prison if convicted.

The immigrants paid $1,500 to cross into the United States. Once in Southern California, the ring linked the immigrants to Aero Paris travel agency in Anaheim, the indictment alleges.

According to the indictment, Mauro Perez, 49, owner of the travel agency and a resident of Yorba Linda, obtained plane tickets for the smuggling organization’s clients, knowing the tickets were being used by undocumented immigrants. Perez was also charged with conspiracy to transport and harbor illegal aliens.

Aero Paris Travel on La Palma Avenue is in an aging strip shopping center in a part of Anaheim with a large Latino immigrant population. The tiny storefront operation was open for business Wednesday, but travel agent Paulino Lopez said he was unsure why his boss, Perez, had not come in. Lopez said he was unaware of the indictment.

Also arrested was Jose Luis de la Rosa-Hernandez, 34, of Upland, known as “Chilango.” He was charged with money laundering and smuggling violations for allegedly directing the payment of smuggling fees to the organization’s guides and drivers.

The money laundering charge carries the possibility of a 20-year jail sentence, Kibble said.

De la Rosa Hernandez allegedly contacted relatives of the immigrants to obtain payments and received wire transfers of money sent to him under different names, Kibble said.

Four of the eight suspects spent Tuesday night in Santa Ana City Jail after being taken into federal custody by immigration agents. A fifth defendant was arrested in Tucson. Two of the accused were still being sought.

The eighth defendant was arrested by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents in Arizona several weeks ago on unrelated alien smuggling charges.

Agents conducted searches Tuesday in Anaheim, San Juan Capistrano and Ontario. At an Ontario trailer park where the organization is suspected of operating a drop house, investigators recovered laminating machines and other materials believed to have been used to make fraudulent documents.

Andres Zarate-Morales, 46, a resident of San Juan Capistrano, was indicted on suspicion of providing vehicles for the organization and serving as a guide. In addition, Alfredo Jamie-Melgar, 38, was apprehended by the Border Patrol in September. Described as an undocumented immigrant, he allegedly served as a driver for the organization.

Augustine Osuna-Ruelas, 42, of Tucson was indicted, suspected of furnishing the organization vehicles and serving as a driver. Authorities were still looking for Antonio Mazari-Mendez, 32, and Daniel Martin Felix-Caraveo, 21, both undocumented immigrants who allegedly were drivers and guides.