EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – A grand jury has charged self-described immigration facilitator for allegedly smuggling 11 pounds of fentanyl powder through a border crossing in New Mexico.
Wednesday’s indictment alleges Daniela Paola Valles imported fentanyl from Mexico and possessed fentanyl with intent to distribute. The charges stem from a November drug seizure at the Santa Teresa Port of Entry involving a vehicle registered to Valles.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers found the drugs after a low energy X-ray scan alerted them to anomalies behind the front seats of a Honda Civic approaching an inspection booth, court documents show.
The officer waited, calmly asked the female driver and male passenger for identification, asked if they had anything to declare and sent them and the Honda to a secondary inspection area when they said they did not.
CBP officers brought a drug-sniffing dog who picked up a suspicious scent. The officers drilled on the floor of the vehicle until they located nine plastic vacuum-sealed bundles with a powdery substance that tested positive for fentanyl, court documents allege.
Border officers detained the two vehicle occupants until a Homeland Security Investigations agent arrived to conduct interviews.
Passenger Jesus Lima Marquez, a Mexican national, denied having knowledge of the drugs. He told HSI his family contacted Valles so she could help them get travel visas to travel to the U.S. Valles allegedly found out he needed to travel from Cuauhtemoc, Mexico, to Albuquerque, New Mexico, and offered to drive him there herself, court documents show.
The agent and a female CBP officer then turned their attention to Valles. The woman stated she is an American citizen and owns a business in Wyoming that facilitates travel for Mexicans wanting to visit the United States. Immigration Solutions and Valles USA LLC assists individuals in lawfully obtaining U.S. visas and filling out paperwork for renewal.
When law enforcement pressed on with questions, Valles allegedly volunteered that she “just does what she is told to do.” Court documents allege she said she has crossed vehicles loaded with drugs on four to five occasions for an unnamed Mexican criminal organization.
Valles allegedly told HSI “the organization” has purchased vehicles under her name and dropped them off at a home she keeps in Mexico. She is told to cross the border and stay at hotels in Albuquerque until someone comes to pick up the drugs and drive her back to Mexico, court documents state.
The woman allegedly said she gets paid only a few hundred dollars for expenses and vouched that her passenger did not know about the drugs.
A judge considered her a flight risk and ordered her held in custody until she’s tried.
A business called Soluciones Migratorias Valles USA LLC is registered to Valles in Sheridan, Wyoming, according to a Border Report records search. The business is listed as active.