http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs ... S/70124040

Two charged with transporting illegal immigrants after traffic stop on I-95
By SEAN O'SULLIVAN, The News Journal

Posted Wednesday, January 24, 2007 at 3:02 pm
WILMINGTON — Federal prosecutors have charged two Mexican men, arrested following a traffic stop on I-95 this month, with transporting illegal immigrants.

Pedro Hernandez-Sanchez and Ricardo Zanela-Castelan, were charged after authorities determined the two, along with 15 other people in the van they were driving, were in the country illegally.

Today, Magistrate Mary Pat Thynge found there was enough evidence to hold the two men in custody pending trial.

The van was stopped for speeding by the Delaware State Police on Jan 17.

According to court papers, the group was headed from Arizona to New York with the men agreeing to drive the van in exchange for a 50 percent reduction in the fee they paid smugglers to get them over the border.

Hernandez-Sanchez had his $1,500 fee cut to $750 and Zalena-Castelan’s fee was cut from $1,600 to $750.

Each now faces up to 10 years in prison and deportation.

It is the second time in two months Delaware police have discovered a truck hauling apparent illegal immigrants during a traffic stop on I-95.

In December, police stopped a pickup truck with 13 people riding in the back who were all later determined to be illegal immigrants en route from Texas to New Jersey