8 charged in death of suspected smuggler
Lindsey Collom
The Arizona Republic
May. 22, 2008 12:00 AM

The Maricopa County Attorney's Office announced the indictments of eight people Wednesday in the murder of a suspected high-level human-smuggling boss and the kidnapping of his associate.

Charged with first-degree murder, kidnapping, conspiracy, illegal control of an enterprise, and assisting a criminal syndicate are Jose Aguilara-Martinez, 24; Faustino Cordero-Flores, 29; Jorge Alberto Delgado Paredes, 27; Fidel Godinez-Garcia, 24; Rogelio Palacios-Hernandez, 27; and Maritza Velarde Zazueta, 23.

Two additional people named in the indictment - 19-year-old Rafael Velasquez-Salas and Jose Luis Melendez, 23 - face all of the charges except murder. advertisement




Police believe that the homicide victim, Aroldo Virsabi-Robles Gonzalez, a Guatemalan national, was a high-ranking leader in a human-smuggling organization and that his status may have led to his death. Gonzalez, 26, was also the subject of a smuggling investigation earlier this year.

The victim's body was found burning May 5 in a dumpster in Phoenix.

Authorities later learned Gonzalez and another man were kidnapped from a parking lot in Maryvale several days before. The investigation led police to a drophouse in Mesa and then on May 8 to a Phoenix home where the kidnapped man was being held.

Authorities could not say whether the suspects are rivals of the victims' smuggling ring or part of it. The detectives of IIMPACT, a multiagency task force formed by the state Department of Public Safety to root out groups that profit from human smuggling, continued to investigate.

Also Wednesday, the County Attorney's Office announced charges against five Mexican nationals accused of operating a drophouse in Phoenix where they demanded an additional $3,000 from people who arranged for safe passage into the U.S. Police said victims were held captive, beaten and told they would be killed if their families did not pay.

"The violence associated with drophouses and kidnapping is one of the symptoms of the illegal immigration crisis gripping the community," County Attorney Andrew Thomas said.

In April, a Maricopa County Superior Court judge sentenced a man to 31 years in prison for his part in a drophouse operation. And two men were sentencedsmuggler





http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepubli ... r0522.html