Thread: Man accused of human smuggling dies after border stop

Editions of the North County Times Serving San Diego and Riverside Counties Wednesday, March 28, 2007 Contact Us Archive




Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Last modified Wednesday, March 28, 2007 7:07 PM PDT




Man accused of human smuggling dies after border stop

By: Associated Press -

SAN DIEGO -- A man suspected of trying to smuggle two illegal immigrants into the country died Wednesday after being taken into custody by U.S. Customs agents, authorities said.

The 30-year-old man, whose name was not immediately released, was a U.S. citizen, said San Diego police Lt. Kevin Rooney. An autopsy was pending.

He was taken into custody late Tuesday after trying to drive a vehicle through the San Ysidro Port of Entry, Rooney said.

A Customs and Border Protection agent told the driver to pull into a secondary inspection area and later found two undocumented immigrants behind the back seat, Rooney said.

The driver, meanwhile, attempted to flee back across the Mexican border, he said, adding that officers used physical force to subdue him.

The man went into medical distress at the holding facility, Rooney said.

"His heart stopped beating so they gave him CPR," Rooney said, adding that the man later died at a hospital.



http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2007/03 ... _28_07.txt

It is sad that he died, but at least he wont be smuggling any more illegals across the border.

Seems to me somebody that get that stressed out should not have been in the smuggling business. But then maybe he couldn't get a regular job with so many illegals in the our country!!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/kgtv/20070330/lo_kgtv/11458670

A suspected immigrant smuggler who died in the custody of customs agents Tuesday night was identified Friday.
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Authorities have not released the official cause of death for Gerardo Valentinez, 30.

Investigators said Valentinez -- an American citizen who had two illegal immigrants in his car -- ran from the secondary inspection area at the San Ysidro Port of Entry.

Officers caught him but Valentinez reportedly fought back.

He collapsed later in a holding cell and died.