ICE agents find 34 people inside stash house

Posted: Oct 23, 2012 7:48 PM PDT
Updated: Oct 23, 2012 8:28 PM PDT
By Rita Garcia, Reporter & Anchor



HOUSTON (FOX 26) - Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agents and police officers swarmed a "stash house" just north of Downtown Houston.

Tuesday afternoon, officers were sent to the 7400 block of Freeman on a disturbance call.

A neighbor said a woman was screaming for help. She was bound with duct tape and appeared to be in a struggle with an unknown male.

"We would walk through here, but it always looked empty, you know," Crystal Butando, another neighbor, said.

It was quite the opposite. Officers found 34 men, women and children inside. Six people were taken into custody. Agents believe 40 people were living inside that "stash house".

Officers hope to learn whether or not human trafficking is involved.

"It's just sad to find them in there," Butando said.

Given what witnesses claim to have heard and seen, it could be worse than anyone imagined.

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