Thread: AZ: Suspected smuggler arrested in deaths of 2 immigrants

Suspected smuggler arrested in deaths of 2 immigrants

Reported by: Associated Press
Last Update: 8:36 pm

A Mexican man has been arrested in the deaths of two illegal immigrants who were killed when the vehicle they were in rolled over in southern Arizona.

Francisco Javier Morquecho-Valdez, 19, was apprehended by the U.S. Border Patrol shortly after authorities say he fled the scene of the Sunday crash.

Authorities say Morquecho admitted he was the driver of a pickup truck carrying 11 illegal immigrants from Mexico.

Some of the immigrants said they crossed into the U.S. near Naco, Ariz. on Sunday, walked north through the desert and were picked up by Morquecho.

One man said he was to pay $2,500 as a smuggling fee with the final destination of New York.

Morquecho faces a charge of transporting illegal aliens for profit resulting in death and faces a maximum sentence of life in prison, a $250,000 fine or both if convicted.

www.abc15.com

Published: 04.15.2008
Migrant, 19, accused in crash that kills 2
DAVID L. TEIBEL and CARLI BROSSEAU
Tucson Citizen

A 19-year-old Mexican man has been charged in connection with driving a pickup truck full of illegal immigrants that crashed near Sierra Vista Sunday, killing two and injuring four others.

Francisco Javier Morquecho-Valdez was charged Monday with transporting illegal aliens for profit resulting in death, U.S. Attorney's Office spokeswoman Sandy Raynor said in a news release. He faces a maximum penalty of life in prison if convicted, she said.

Nine of those in the truck were turned over to the U.S. Border Patrol to be held as material witnesses in the case or to be processed for voluntary return to Mexico, said Vincent Picard, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman.

Four witnesses said Morquecho-Valdez was the driver of the truck that picked them up near Naco after their trek through the desert, Raynor said. One said he was bound for New York at a cost of $2,500, she said.
Picard said the truck crashed about 7:45 a.m. Sunday. All the people in the truck were from Mexico, he said.

Joy L. Craig, a state Department of Public Safety officer, said the truck, a 2001 Dodge extended cab pickup, was being driven west on State Route 90, eight miles east of Sierra Vista, when the driver lost control of the vehicle and it overturned.

Fifteen people were in the truck, some covered by a tarpaulin in the pickup's bed, and the others were in the truck's cab, Craig said.

The two dead were male passengers in the truck, Craig said.

Two of the injured were airlifted to a hospital in Tucson. One was admitted in critical condition, and the other was treated and released, Craig said.
The other two injured were taken to the Bisbee Copper Queen Community Hospital for treatment for broken bones, Craig said in an e-mailed summary of the crash.

Craig could not say what caused the driver to lose control of the truck.
Sunday's crash came after a van loaded with illegal immigrants crashed on Interstate 10 west of the Empirita interchange April 7, killing a woman from Guatemala.

The April 7 crash injured 30 other illegal immigrants from Guatemala, Ecuador and El Salvador. The suspected driver and a guide both were from Mexico, authorities said. One person escaped injury.

Federal authorities have charged the suspected driver, Jesus Espinoza-Martinez, 31, with one count of transporting illegal immigrants for profit resulting in death and one count of bringing illegal aliens into the United States for profit, the U.S. Attorney's Office said in a written statement on the case.

Espinoza-Martinez faces a life sentence on the first charge and up to 15 years on the second, the statement says. He also faces a $250,000 fine on each of the two counts.

http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/ss/fromcomments/82537.php

Hearing waived for man charged in crash that killed illegal immigrants
April 17, 2008

By Gentry Braswell
Herald/Review



TUCSON — A Mexican national accused of transporting illegal immigrants for profit resulting in death had his preliminary hearing waived Wednesday in federal court.

Francisco Javier Morquecho-Valdez, 19, is still being detained because he has no legal U.S. immigration status, and the dates for depositions from the material witnesses have been set for mid-May, a spokeswoman for the Office of the U.S. Attorney District of Arizona said.

Morquecho-Valdez was charged by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement following a Sunday morning single-vehicle crash eight miles east of Sierra Vista in which at least a half dozen illegal immigrants were injured, two illegal immigrants were killed, and the rest were taken into custody by the U.S. Border Patrol. All of the illegal immigrants were Mexicans, authorities said.

The 2001 Dodge pickup apparently driven by the defendant had been reported stolen out of Phoenix on April 7, which follows a trend of human trafficking involving stolen vehicles, according to the Arizona Department of Public Safety.

Two people who were injured were taken to the Copper Queen Community Hospital in Bisbee, and four of the injured were flown to University Medical Center in Tucson.

All had been released from the hospitals as of Wednesday. Advertisement

The Mexican Consulate in Douglas has not yet released the names of the two men killed, saying it is still attempting to notify the next of kin.

The men’s ages were 18 and 47.

www.douglasdispatch.com

Hearing today for accused driver in wreck that killed illegal immigrants


By Gentry Braswell
Herald/Review

April 19, 2008

SIERRA VISTA — A preliminary hearing for the accused driver of a vehicle transporting illegal immigrants that was involved in a fatal crash Sunday near Sierra Vista is scheduled to have a hearing in federal court today.

The hearing is at 10:30 a.m. at the federal courthouse in Tucson.

Francisco Javier Morquecho-Valdez, 19, of Mexico, was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and charged with a count of transporting illegal immigrants for profit/resulting in death, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office District of Arizona Public Affairs Office.

About 7:45 a.m. Sunday, a 2001 Dodge extended cab pickup apparently driven by Morquecho-Valdez crashed while heading westbound on Highway 90 near High Knoll Road, about eight miles east of Sierra Vista.

All of the vehicle’s 15 occupants were apparently Mexican nationals who were in the United States illegally.

Most of the passengers were in the truck’s bed and covered by a tarp. Advertisement

More people were stacked inside the cab, where the rear seat had been removed.

The pickup had been reported stolen out of Phoenix on April 7.

The pickup was not fleeing a traffic stop or any other apparent pursuit, but an eyewitness told Arizona Department of Public Safety officers the pickup was speeding.

Two men were killed, ages 18 and 47, and though their identities have been confirmed, the process of notification of next of kin is still under way and their names are not yet being released, a spokesman for the Mexican Consulate in Douglas said Tuesday.

Three of the four men flown to University Medical Center in Tucson have been treated and released.

With the assistance of the Consulate in Douglas, the men were taken back to a shelter in Agua Prieta, Mexico, the spokesman for the Consulate said.

The names of those men are Diego Arenas Huinatl, Alfredo Maldonado Rodriguez and Pedro Tecuapacho.

The fourth man, Edwardo Arngel Martinez, remains at UMC and was in fair condition on Tuesday, a spokeswoman for UMC said.

Two others were treated and released from Bisbee’s Copper Queen Community Hospital with less serious injuries.

Morquecho-Valdez was kept at the Cochise County Jail on a courtesy hold for federal police until ICE agents retrieved him about 10:30 a.m. Monday.

After the crash, Morquecho-Valdez fled. He was apprehended a short time later by the U.S. Border Patrol, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office District of Arizona press release.

Some of the illegal immigrants in the group told U.S. officials they crossed into the United States earlier that day near Naco, Ariz., walked north through the desert and were picked up by Morquecho-Valdez in the pickup, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Another witness told authorities he was to pay $2,500 as a smuggling fee and his final destination was New York.

The criminal complaint alleges Morquecho-Valdez admitted he was the truck’s driver when it crashed, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

A conviction for transporting illegal immigrants for profit resulting in death carries a maximum penalty of life in prison, a $250,000 fine or both.

Sunday’s incident was the second fatal rollover crash in Southeastern Arizona in a week.

On April 7, a rollover near Benson left a woman dead and others hospitalized.

An illegal immigrant also is charged in that case.

The number of Francisco Javier Morquecho-Valdez’s case in federal court is 08-6124M.

www.douglasdispatch.com

Human smuggler gets 7 years for fatal accident
December 5th, 2008 @ 3:57pm
by Associated Press

TUCSON, Ariz. - A Mexican man who was driving a pickup packed with illegal immigrants when it rolled in southern Arizona earlier this year and killed two passengers has been sentenced to 7 years in federal prison.

The U.S. attorney's office says Francisco Javier Morquecho-Valdez pleaded guilty to transporting an illegal alien for commercial or financial gain resulting in death. He faced up to life in prison, but the 20-year-old received the 7-year sentence on Thursday.

Morquecho-Valdez had picked up the load of illegal immigrants near Naco in southern Arizona on April 13 and was headed north near Sierra Vista when the vehicle rolled over, ejecting many of the occupants. Two died at the scene and four others were critically hurt.

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