Thermal man arrested for smuggling illegal immigrants across border near Yuma
The Border Patrol today announced the arrest of a convicted sex offender from Thermal, who’s suspected of smuggling four people across the Mexican border in Arizona.
Agents near Yuma stopped a vehicle at 9:30 p.m. Monday driven by the 31-year-old Thermal resident, whose “numerous criminal convictions out of Riverside County” include taking a vehicle without the owner’s consent, possession of a controlled substance, battery on a spouse, and lewd and lascivious acts with a minor under 14, according to the Border Patrol.
Officials say he brought four Mexican nationals through the border crossing west of Yuma in a blue 1996 Ford Explorer. Agents stopped the SUV in the westbound lanes of Interstate 8 and arrested all five occupants, according to a U.S. Customs and Border Protection statement.
The driver, whose name was withheld, will be charged with bringing in and harboring aliens, CBP officials said.
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