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.
5 people were charged with operating a Houston human smuggling operation, after nearly 100 undocumented immigrants found INSIDER 5/3/2021
Houston Police discovered a human smuggling home after 97 undocumented immigrants were found.
Five people were charged in federal court in the human smuggling scheme.
One person said that the ringleaders threatened her brother s life to obtain more money.
In total, five people were charged with harboring, concealing, and shielding undocumented immigrants for the purpose of commercial advantage or private financial gain. Their names are:
Marina Garcia-Diaz, 22, of El Salvador
Henry Licona-Larios, 31, Honduras
Marcelo Garcia-Palacios, 21, Mexico
According to the criminal complaint filed on May 1, the Houston Police Department received a 911 call about a kidnapping case from Francis Martinez. The filing alleges that Martinez paid human smugglers $11,000 to move her brother from Honduras to the US. She said that she was told by several peop
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.
5 charged after nearly 100 people found in southwest Houston home article
HOUSTON - Officials say five people were taken into custody after nearly 100 undocumented noncitizens were found in a home in southwest Houston.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas, a criminal complaint charges 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.
The five individuals are all allegedly noncitizens of the United States residing here illegally. The criminal complaint, filed Saturday, alleges all five harbored, concealed and shielded illegal aliens for the purpose of commercial advantage or private financial gain, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas said in a release.
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