Laura Young
ECB Publishing, Inc.
Last Saturday, a traffic stop on Interstate 10 in Jefferson County developed into two arrests related to human smuggling.
According to the Florida Highway Patrol (FHP) report, at 8:04 a.m. on Aug. 6, troopers stopped a tan SUV at mile marker 225, eastbound on I-10 in Jefferson County, for following too closely. The driver was a 35-year-old male resident of Guatemala named Gildardo Sanchez-Morales, and the passenger was a 24-year-old resident of Guatemala named William Vasquez-Barrios. While troopers were speaking to the occupants, it was discovered that the driver was transporting the passenger from Waco, Texas, to Immokalee, Fla. The report states that the driver knew the passenger was an illegal immigrant.
ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) was contacted and interviewed Vasquez-Barrios. According to the report, Vasquez-Barrios advised ICE that he had paid Sanchez-Morales $800 to transport him from Texas to Florida. Sanchez-Morales was subsequently arrested for human smuggling and having no driver's license. Vasquez-Barrios was arrested for solicitation.
ICE reportedly has placed a detainer on both the driver and passenger, and as of Aug. 9 they remained in custody at the Jefferson County Jail.
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