Feds: Three women charged after trying to smuggle $1.4M in cash
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February 26, 2011 1:00 AM

By ILDEFONSO ORTIZ
The Monitor

McALLEN — Three women remain jailed after authorities say they tried to smuggle into Mexico more than $1.4 million in bulk cash that was hidden inside cardboard boxes.

Leticia Pineda, 35, Lilia Camacho, 55, and Yeraldin Jimenez Ruiz, 22, were arrested Wednesday evening at the Hidalgo International Bridge by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers and later charged with one count of attempting to smuggle cash and one count of conspiracy to smuggle cash, court records show.

The arrest took place when the women arrived at the bridge on a commercial bus from Omnibus Express that was headed for Mexico, records state.

According to an agency press release, a CBP officer boarded to the bus to conduct a southbound inspection and then sent the bus to a secondary inspection area where they asked the passengers, including the women, to get off the bus while they conducted a search of the vehicle and luggage.

Authorities discovered three cardboard boxes with inflatable toys, as well as $551,121 in one of the boxes, $404,126 in another and $500,676 in the third box, the release stated. The total amount of cash seized was $1,458, 923.

According to the criminal complain, the women were arrested and turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.

Camacho declined further comment, officials said. Pineda stated that she had been recruited to transport an unknown amount of currency from Atlanta, Ga., to Mexico City and that she had received a $3,500 payment and expected another installment of the same amount upon completion of the transport, according to authorities.

According to authorities, said Ruiz stated that she had been recruited by Camacho, who is a relative and also spoke with ICE agents and stated that she had been paid $1,000 and expected to receive a total of $10,000. She also said Camacho had encouraged her to bring her 4-year-old daughter “to appear less suspicious,â€