Eleven in custody after Encinal pursuits

By Breyana Segura - Chief Staff Writer | August 11, 2022

Police give chase when suspects flee traffic stops

Several undocumented immigrants and their alleged smugglers have been remanded into custody in Encinal after a series of pursuits last week in which police intercepted the illegal transport.
A Laredo teenager was arrested Thursday afternoon, August 4, after jumping out of a sedan in an attempt to evade officers before being held at gunpoint by a local landowner.
Encinal police say 19-year-old Oziel Robledo of Laredo led officers on a high-speed chase that ended near Milemarker 55 on IH-35.
According to a report on the case, Robledo was behind the wheel of a white Chrysler when officers attempted to effect a traffic stop.

The man reportedly disregarded officers’ commands and drove north on the interstate, then slowed his vehicle to allow a number of undocumented immigrants to climb out.
“Robledo stopped his car several times to let people out,” Encinal Lt. Angel Esparza said Monday morning. “Those individuals were later identified as illegal immigrants.”
Robledo jumped out of the moving vehicle before his sedan crashed into a property fence. He continued fleeing on foot but was halted by a landowner who allegedly held him at gunpoint until law enforcement arrived, the report indicated.
Later that day, a second pursuit ensued after 34-year-old Kimberly Almanza of Laredo attempted evading capture by speeding away from a traffic stop. Police report that the woman was driving a black Toyota Camry sedan that she eventually stopped at the intersection of IH-35 and Hwy 44, where four of her passengers fled the scene on foot. The travelers were ultimately corralled by state troopers and game wardens.

Encinal police are also reporting that two days earlier, a driver crashed a Ford F-250 pickup truck into a ranch near the La Salle – Webb county line. The truck had been reported stolen in San Antonio.
It was during a pursuit along the IH-35 northbound lanes that the driver of the pickup truck turned his steering sharply and crashed the vehicle at a ranch along Coquat Road and Hwy 44.
The driver fled the scene on foot and was found the next day by Constable Pct. 2 Rene Maldonado.
Encinal police, La Salle County deputies and US Border Patrol agents captured seven illegal immigrants who were traveling in the stolen truck.