Pair charged in immigrant smuggling role
Raided home called 'staging location.'
By Guillermo Contreras
Updated 01:33 a.m., Thursday, March 15, 2012


Warning signs have been posted on the fence of a home on the South Side where 20 undocumented immigrants were found in a raid on March 10. Photo: Guillermo Contreras, San Antonio Express-News / SA

Two people have been charged after law officers raided a South Side home where immigrants were temporarily hidden while relatives paid smuggling fees of $1,800 or more.

Agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, aided by San Antonio police, raided the home at 4359 Commercial St. on Saturday after getting a tip that 25 to 30 immigrants might be held there against their will, according to a federal affidavit. The tipster also indicated that there might be weapons at the home. But that didn't turn out to be the case.

To check on the welfare of those inside, law officers first knocked on the door, said Fred Hollenbeck, assistant special agent in charge of ICE Homeland Security Investigations in San Antonio.

One man fled the home, one of three in a family compound where a U.S. flag waves atop the rear home.

The raided home at the front, with a manicured, welcoming lawn and chimeneas, is about a block from South Loop 410. Railroad tracks run behind the compound, where the man on foot is believed to have fled.

The front of the compound now has signs warning visitors against trespassing, which neighbors said went up a day or two after 20 police cars arrived for the raid.

Inside the front home, authorities found 20 people. Among them were Mirta Pellicier Colon, 43, and Julio Cesar Curiel-Segura Ö, 31, who were arrested and charged this week with concealing or harboring 18 undocumented immigrants. They each face up to 10 years in federal prison, and on Wednesday waived their bail hearings, opting to stay in jail.

The immigrants, from Honduras, Guatemala and Mexico, were held for deportation, except three, who will remain here as witnesses against Colon and Curiel-Segura, records show. Some told agents that relatives wired upwards of $1,850 to the suspects for smuggling fees. They were headed to Florida, Kentucky, Maryland, New York and several other U.S. destinations, the affidavit said.

Hollenbeck described the raided home as a "staging location," where immigrants are held temporarily before being transferred farther inland, rather than a "stash house" where immigrants are held for days in deplorable conditions and with armed guards.

"In this case, they had food and water, and they weren't held against their will," Hollenbeck said. "There was no evidence that it was over a multiple day period. Nobody seemed dehydrated or malnourished."

But agents did find Western Union money transfer receipts and two ledgers, with names, dollar amounts and destinations. Several people named in the ledgers were no longer at the home, the affidavit said. Also found was $2,836 in Colon's purse, the affidavit said.

"Those ledgers are indicative of an organization, and this probably wasn't their first time," Hollenbeck said. "Those ledgers will help uncover the entire organization."

Neighbors said a woman, believed to be Colon, had moved in about a year ago, and rented the home with two older men.

About a month ago, "we noticed more traffic," Roger McGraw said. "People were coming and going all night......But, they had them very well hidden."

"Other than that, there are no problems," McGraw said, noting the quiet rural-like charm along his neighborhood. "The way it is right now, that's the way it always is."

gcontreras@express-news.net

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