5 Foreign Nationals Charged in Texas Human Smuggling Stash House Operation
AFP Photo
4 May 2021
HOUSTON, Texas The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas filed criminal charges against five “non-citizens of the United States” for their alleged roles in a human smuggling stash house operation. The alleged smugglers reportedly extorted the families of migrants being held in a house in southwest Houston.
Federal prosecutors filed a criminal complaint against Marina Garcia-Diaz, 22, El Salvador; Henry Licona-Larios, 31, Copan, Honduras; Kevin Licona-Lopez, 25, Santa Barbara, Honduras; Marco Baca-Perez 30, Michoacan, Mexico; and Marcelo Garcia-Palacios, 21, Oaxaca, Mexico, Fox 26 Houston reported. Police reportedly found nearly 100 migrants locked inside two rooms inside the stash house.
Federal charges filed against five suspects after authorities discover 97 people crammed inside Houston home
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Federal charges filed against five people accused of operating Houston stash house where more than 90 people were found
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Possible human smuggling case found in SW Houston
HOUSTON – Five people accused of operating a stash house in Houston are now facing federal charges, according to the US Department of Justice.
Authorities discovered 97 people hidden inside the southwest Houston home on Friday in the 12200 block of Chessington Drive at South Kensington Drive.
According to the criminal complaint, Marina Garcia-Diaz, 22, Henry Licona-Larios, 31, Kevin Licona-Lopez, 25, Marco Baca-Perez 30 and Marcelo Garcia-Palacios, 21 all “harbored, concealed and shielded illegal aliens for the purpose of commercial advantage or private financial gain.”
DOJ: 5 facing federal charges after 97 people found in Houston ‘stash house’
All five suspects are accused of harboring and concealing people for “the purpose of commercial advantage or private financial gain.” Author: Doug Delony Updated: 11:52 AM CDT May 3, 2021
HOUSTON Five suspects have been charged and arrested after last week’s discovery of a suspected human smuggling operation in a southwest Houston home, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Monday.
Note: the video in this story is a Houston police press conference held the day the home was discovered
The justice department said 97 people were found in the home.
The criminal complaint charges Marina Garcia-Diaz, 22, of El Salvador; Henry Licona-Larios, 31, of Copan, Honduras; Kevin Licona-Lopez, 25, of Santa Barbara, Honduras; Marco Baca-Perez 30, of Michoacan, Mexico; and Marcelo Garcia-Palacios, 21, of Oaxaca, Mexico.
A 911 call from a woman who said human smugglers were demanding $6,000 on top of $11,000 she had already paid them to bring her brother from Honduras led to the discovery of 97 immigrants locked in a Houston home.
Houston, Texas. (Image by David Mark from Pixabay via Courthouse News)
HOUSTON (CN) Five people have been arrested on federal human smuggling charges after authorities found 97 undocumented immigrants locked in two bedrooms of a Houston home Friday.
Francis Martinez of Dallas called 911 Friday to report her brother Santos Vaquedano had been kidnapped, according to court documents.
Martinez told Houston police she had paid smugglers $11,000 in February to bring Vaquedano from Honduras to the United States. She said a man and a woman had called her Thursday and told her to drive to Houston, meet them at a Walgreens parking lot and pay them another $6,300 for Vaquedano’s release.
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