McALLEN, Texas (Border Report) — An Arkansas man has been convicted of human smuggling for transporting migrants in the wheel well and fuel tank of a pickup at a Border Patrol checkpoint in South Texas.
U.S. Attorney Nicholas Ganjei said Tuesday that Noel Mercado, 48, of Jonesboro, Arkansas, was convicted of two counts of alien smuggling for the Jan. 5 discovery at the U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint in Falfurrias, Texas.
A canine unit notified agents who sent the pickup for secondary inspection. There, law enforcement say an X-ray scan found two people hidden in the truck’s wheel wells and two others in an auxiliary fuel tank below the truck’s bed.
Two of the migrants were found bolted inside a modified wheel well compartment, according to recent court testimony.
A jury deliberated less than an hour following a two-day trial in Corpus Christi, Texas, after which which Mercado was found guilty.
He claimed during the trial that he had traveled to the Rio Grande Valley to trade baseball cards and other collectibles. He said he was unaware of the people concealed within the truck he was driving.
“As the department cracks down on human smuggling and illegal immigration, we can expect smugglers to get more desperate, and thus more creative,” Ganjei said. “I would like to thank the jury for their service.”
Mercado is set to be sentenced June 11. He faces up to 10 years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine.
Sandra Sanchez can be reached at SSanchez@borderreport.com.