2 face human smuggling charges after I-70 stop

Mexicans accused of transporting vans full of immigrants

By Kelli Wynn, Staff Writer
Updated 10:38 PM Thursday, June 9, 2011

Two Mexican nationals face federal charges after they were allegedly caught using Interstate 70 in Clark County to smuggle 10 Guatemalans across the country.

Moises Martinez-Garcia and Juan Varillas-Santiago were being held without bond Thursday in the Montgomery County Jail after having been arraigned in U.S. District Court in Dayton, according to Fred Alverson, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Southern District of Ohio.

The case against Martinez-Garcia and Varilla-Santiago marks the second time in four months that alleged smugglers have been caught using I-70 in the Dayton area to deliver multiple illegal immigrants to a predetermined location, Alverson said.

The local cases involve fewer illegal immigrants than other notable smuggling cases, but “certainly raise cause for concern,â€