Charges filed against alleged human smuggler


NICOLE FORMOSA
summit daily news
December 7, 2006

Summit County, CO Colorado

BRECKENRIDGE - District Attorney Mark Hurlbert filed six counts of felony human smuggling against Enrique Alberto Lopez-Baca on Wednesday, making him the first person in Summit County to be charged with the crime at the state level since a change in the law in June.

Cases of human smuggled used to be handled only at the federal level, but state lawmakers passed a bill earlier this year making it a felony under state law to receive money in exchange for helping someone enter the U.S. illegally.

Frisco police officers arrested Lopez-Baca, 27, on Nov. 28 at the Kentucky Friend Chicken after a citizen called to report a large group of Hispanic males eating at the restaurant who were all underdressed for the cold weather.

Lopez-Baca, also an illegal alien, told police he was driving a minivan with 16 passengers from Mexico to New York.

At least five of the passengers told police officers that they had paid, or agreed to pay Lopez-Baca up to $2,300 for transportation to jobs in the U.S. None said he was coming to work in Colorado.

Each count of human smuggling is punishable by four to 16 years in prison and fines of up to $750,000.

Lopez-Baca also faces one count of obstructing a peace officer for trying to flee the scene before he was arrested. He has applied for representation from the public defender. His next court date is Dec. 12.

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Frisco police arrest suspected 'coyote'

BY NICOLE FORMOSA
summit daily news
December 5, 2006

Summit County, CO Colorado

FRISCO - A 27-year-old man could face felony human smuggling and trafficking charges following his arrest in Frisco last week for allegedly charging a group of illegal aliens to drive them across the country for jobs.

Enrique Alberto Lopez-Baca, also an illegal alien, is lodged in the Summit County Jail on suspicion of receiving a child in a human trafficking transaction and human smuggling, both class 3 felonies, and resisting arrest, a misdemeanor.

Earlier this year, Colorado state lawmakers passed a bill making it a felony under state law to receive money in exchange for helping someone enter the U.S. illegally. Previously, cases of human smuggling were handled only at the federal level.

District Attorney Mark Hurlbert expects to officially file charges against Lopez-Baca today, but as of Tuesday afternoon, he hadn't yet determined whether human smuggling would be one of them.

If it is, Lopez-Baca would be the first person in Summit County to face the charge since the law changed in June, Hurlbert said.

On Monday, Hurlbert filed 43 charges, including 14 counts of smuggling humans, in a similar case in Clear Creek County against Jose Franco-Rodriguez, who was allegedly driving a minivan carrying 14 passengers when he crashed on I-70 near Idaho Springs last week, killing four of them.

In the Frisco case, Lopez-Baca was allegedly driving a minivan from Mexico to New York filled with 16 Hispanic males ranging in age from 17 to about 65 when they stopped at the Kentucky Fried Chicken last Wednesday evening, according to a report from the Frisco Police Department.

A citizen saw the group at the fast-food restaurant and called dispatch because they were all underdressed for the cold weather and were sharing one bucket of chicken.

Officers arrived and talked to Lopez-Baca, who said that he had been driving the mini-van, but didn't think he was doing anything wrong, the report said.

He stated that he owned the minivan, and that the registration was in the vehicle in the parking lot. Two officers led Lopez-Baca out to the vehicle to obtain the registration, and noticed a male lying in the in the back of the van with no shoes or jacket on, while the temperatures outside were about 5 degrees. One officer escorted the male inside, leaving Lopez-Baca outside with the second officer.

Lopez-Baca then took off running toward the Holiday Inn parking lot, but the officer caught and arrested him, the report said.

Officers found a list of passenger names and their destinations inside the van.

They interviewed the 16 passengers and determined that at least five of the men had paid or agreed to pay Lopez-Baca different amounts of money - up to $2,300 - to take them from Nogales, Mexico, to various destinations in the U.S. for work.

The passengers were taken to the Summit County Jail and later released to Immigration Customs Enforcement officials.

Lopez-Baca remains in the jail on an Immigration Customs Enforcement hold. His case is scheduled on the Summit County District Court docket on Dec. 12.