Pursuit ends in smuggler’s arrest

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Immigrants hidden in truck bed floor

The pursuit of a suspected smuggler by agents of the US Border Patrol and La Salle County sheriff’s deputies ended with his arrest in a grassy field behind a truck stop shortly before 8 p.m. Monday, August 4.

Reports on the case indicate officers had been alerted to a suspicious vehicle traveling north on the interstate towards Cotulla and noted that the heavy-duty work truck had been equipped with a steel flatbed.

La Salle County Chief Deputy Armando Romo was among the first at the scene after a pursuit up the interstate when the truck veered out of the northbound lanes and headed for the Love’s truck stop on the outskirts of Cotulla. Chief Romo was assisted at the scene by Deputy Valarie Lozano.

The driver has been identified as Carlos Lineros Jr., 37, of Laredo. He was accompanied in the cab by a female passenger who has been listed as an undocumented immigrant.

Officers examining the vehicle determined quickly that its rear had been adapted with a hidden compartment accessed by a panel where the hitch for a gooseneck trailer would be attached. Lifting the panel, deputies and Border Patrol agents found six young adult men packed closely in the confined space. All have been listed as undocumented immigrants.

There are no reports of the passengers having suffered serious injury in the transport or in the incident in which the driver steered the truck into a shallow ditch at the foot of an embankment behind the fuel station in an attempt to evade capture.

Lineros was arrested on charges of human smuggling with a likelihood of serious bodily injury or death, a second-degree felony, for each of the passengers hidden in the bed of the truck, and a further second-degree felony for smuggling persons while fleeing. He has also been charged with third-degree felony evading arrest with a vehicle.

The sheriff’s office has confirmed that the suspect was listed as wanted by the US Marshals Service and was still being held at the La Salle County Jail on Monday this week, awaiting transfer.
The undocumented immigrants have been turned over to the custody of the US Border Patrol for processing.