2 men charged with breaking immigration law
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July 3, 2009

By Andy Grimm


Two Mexican men face federal charges they allegedly were driving more than a dozen immigrants from Los Angeles to New York, Ohio and Georgia.

A state trooper pulled Lazaro Sandoval-Arreygue over on the Indiana Toll Road June 11 after seeing Sandoval-Arreygue's white cargo van make an unsafe lane change near Portage.

Inside the car, court records state, the trooper found 15 passengers who told investigators they paid between $150 to $2,000 to ride from California to Long Island, Manhattan, New Jersey, Ohio, and Georgia.

Sandoval-Arreygue had only Mexican identification cards, and told Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents called to the scene that he knew he was transporting "illegal aliens" a criminal complaint filed by prosecutors states.

The man in the car, Hector Escobar-Izaguire, admitted he had entered the country illegally twice, and had been deported in February.

Both men have been charged with transporting illegal aliens.

Passengers Adrian Calleja-Peralta, 26, and Ricardo Calleja-Peralta, were charged with reentering the U.S. after being deported.

Another three of the passengers also will face criminal charges, U.S. Attorney spokeswoman Mary Hatton said Thursday.

Contact Andy Grimm at agrimm@post-trib.com. Comment on this story at www.post-trib.com



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