FALFURRIAS, Texas (ValleyCentral) — Two men are facing charges of human smuggling after an inspection at the Falfurrias checkpoint revealed people hidden inside a vehicle.
Brandon Alexander Watts-Rodriguez and Greg Gutierrez were arrested Monday after U.S. Border Patrol agents suspected the two were acting disengaged, an affidavit obtained by ValleyCentral stated.
While in the primary inspection line of the checkpoint, Watts-Rodriguez and Gutierrez were in the driver and passenger seats of a red Ford Edge. Watts-Rodriguez reportedly told agents the pair was traveling to San Antonio for Spring Break.
“During the agent’s line of questioning, he noticed Gutierrez was disengaged from the encounter and was on his phone the entire time,” the affidavit stated.
Agents reported that they noticed there were ‘random items” scattered throughout the cargo area of the vehicle.
When asked if they were the only two people in the car, Watts-Rodriguez glanced toward the cargo area of the vehicle, documents indicate.
During a secondary inspection of the SUV, agents ran the vehicle through an X-ray which revealed two people in a modified compartment in the cargo area. The two were determined to from Guatemala.
The migrants told agents they paid $14,772 and $1,926 respectively to get to Houston after crossing the Rio Grande 10 days earlier.
Watts-Rodriguez and Gutierrez were arrested on charges of illegal human smuggling, the documents state.
