Former Uber courier and accomplice charged with helping smuggle three passengers
October 5, 2017
Kristina Davis
The Uber sticker on the gray Dodge Charger stuck out as odd to the Border Patrol agent the afternoon of Aug. 15. Uber isn't usually seen this far east, in Boulevard, she thought, according to court documents.
The car ended up carrying paying passengers, except they'd just crossed the border illegally, authorities said.
The agent spotted the car off Old Highway 80 near Interstate 8 about 3:40 p.m. It was the same car she’d seen 15 minutes prior at the Golden Acorn Casino with the same driver and passenger, she said.
But the car was riding significantly lower than it had been at the casino, she noted, a common indication of hidden human cargo. She ran the California license plates and the car came back as a rental out of Tulsa, Okla. This further piqued her interest and she began to follow the car.
The Dodge merged onto I-8 but drove slower than the surrounding traffic. As the agent passed, she saw a person lying in the backseat, according to the complaint.
She called for backup and stopped the car. Three men who later admitted to being in the country illegally were lying across the backseat. They told authorities they were going to pay $6,000 to be smuggled from Mexico.
The driver, Domonick Lawrence Guy, told authorities that he delivered food for UberEats and PostMates and that he’d just met the passenger, Roxie Ann McCrary, in Long Beach a few days earlier. He said she asked him to drive her to San Diego to pick up some people he believed were friends, according to the complaint. He said she offered him $200 for the trip.
In Boulevard, he said McCrary unlocked the doors and let in three men who emerged from behind a tree, the complaint states.
McCrary told authorities that she’d been offered $80 to $100 to pick up some "homeless" people from an unidentified person.
Each was arrested on a charge of transportation of unauthorized immigrants for financial gain. They have pleaded not guilty and were granted bond by a magistrate judge in San Diego federal court.
According to Uber, Guy has not driven for the company in the past few months.
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