Thread: AZ-UPDATE: Final suspect arrested after drop house standoff

UPDATE: Final suspect arrested after drop house standoff
Posted: Dec 01, 2009 11:27 AM CST
Updated: Dec 01, 2009 1:41 PM CST
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Lauren Burgoyne's live report from the scene
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By Brian White - email

TUCSON, AZ (KOLD) - Pima County Sheriff deputies have arrested 4 suspects and are still searching for another as of 11:50 p.m. Tuesday.

It all began just before 9 a.m. when agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement alerted deputies of a suspected drop house near South Nogales Highway and East Old Vail Connection Road.

The agents had been watching the house and reported seeing men armed with guns, deputy spokeswoman Dawn Barkman said.

Nearby Summit View Elementary was placed on lockdown as a precaution, Barkman said.

A SWAT team was sent inside the home where 15 illegal immigrants and two smugglers were found, Barkman added. The two suspects were arrested.

Two additional suspects were later arrested. Deputies say they are still searching for a fifth suspect.

http://www.kold.com/Global/story.asp?S=11599235

Drop house bust ends with 19 people in custody

Posted: Dec 01, 2009 8:44 PM CST
Updated: Dec 01, 2009 8:44 PM CST
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Drop house bust ends with 19 people in custody

Drop house where smugglers held illegal immigrants hostage
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UPDATE: Final suspect arrested after drop house standoff
By Dan Marries - email

TUCSON, AZ (KOLD-TV) - A drop house on the south side leads to a school lock down and SWAT situation.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents received a tip that a group of people were being held hostage at a home near S. Nogales Highway and E. Old Vail Connection Road.

Agents began a surveillance operation on the home and called for back up.
Pima County Sheriff's Department spokeswoman Dawn Barkman says when deputies arrived they found, "what they believed was a hostage situation. They backed off, held perimeter, and called the Pima County Regional SWAT Team to respond."

SWAT members quickly rounded up most of the illegals and the suspected smugglers but a couple managed to escape prompting an immediate search of the area by ground and air.

Nearby Summit View Elementary School was placed on lock down. Elsa Cocoa was inside the school when she was told to turn off the lights and stay away from the windows, "I was nervous, but it was lock down. We kept seeing people crossing by and the officers looking and seeing what was going on."

It didn't take long for all 19 people to be rounded up but authorities still aren't sure how many of them are the suspected smugglers. They hope to determine that by interviewing everyone who was locked up inside this house.

http://www.kold.com/Global/story.asp?S=11603248

4 in standoff indicted on human-smuggling charges

Dec. 31, 2009 05:11 PM
Associated Press

TUCSON - Three Mexican men and a Tucson woman arrested following an armed standoff with local police and federal agents have been indicted on federal hostage taking and human smuggling charges.

Federal prosecutors say 29-year-old Faustino Chiquete-Reyes, 36-year-old Nestor Chiquete-Reyes and 38-year-old Angel Reyna-Vargas were each charged with five counts of hostage taking and two counts of harboring of illegal aliens for profit.

The Tucson woman - 24-year-old Maria Lourdes Ibarra - is charged with one count of hostage taking and two counts of harboring of illegal aliens for profit.

The four defendants are scheduled to be arraigned Jan. 14. They were arrested Dec. 1 following a standoff with Pima County Sheriff's Department SWAT deputies and agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. A search of the home found 19 illegal immigrants.

www.azcentral.com