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Alleged smugglers rent off-road vehicles to pick up migrants at Otay Mountain, attempt to flee Border Patrol
Helicopter Pilot Mark M. who flies for Customs and Border Protection’s Air and Marine Ops, on a mission over the Otay Mountains southeast of San Diego. (Ellioy Macias/KSWB)
EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – Two alleged migrant smugglers and two men hired as “lookouts” are facing federal charges in connection with an incident in which a U.S. Border Patrol agent was almost run over by fleeing off-road vehicles.
The incident occurred last Saturday on the Otay Mountain truck trail in San Diego County, Calif., near the border with Mexico.
Border Patrol surveillance camera operators tracked three all-terrain vehicles going up the mountain around 3 a.m. and turning onto a flat area where several people came out of the brush and climbed onto two of the vehicles. Court documents show one of the ATVs remained on the spot while the two others proceeded down the mountain trail.
A border agent identified only as D. Hernandez drove up in a marked vehicle and stopped the two ATVs. He got down to interview the occupants as to their citizenship, but the driver of the lead vehicle “kept answering questions for the passengers,” court records show.
When Hernandez told the man to let his passengers speak, the driver accelerated the idling ATV in the direction of the agent who had to jump out of the way to avoid being struck, according to a criminal complaint filed Monday in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California.
The driver of the second ATV also accelerated but maneuvered around the fallen agent and his patrol vehicle. Several Border Patrol units were called to assist and located the two abandoned ATVs along with discarded helmets and gear along a portion of the trail known as Triple Nickel.
Agents found an undocumented woman hiding nearby and followed footprints to where another three Mexican citizens were hiding. Court records show border agents used infrared thermal imaging scanners to locate another two individuals they later identified as the ATV drivers.
A canine unit assisted in the search and eight admitted undocumented migrants were located by 5:45 a.m., records show. Meantime, agents up the mountain took into custody the two occupants of the third ATV. Edgar Castañeda and Oscar Gallegos allegedly admitted to investigators that they were paid $200 each but only to act as “lookouts” for the men who would be picking up and transporting the unauthorized migrants. They said the off-road vehicles were all rented.
Three Mexican nationals being held as material witnesses in the case told investigators they paid or owed smugglers more than $10,000 each to be smuggled into the U.S. and transported to Los Angeles. They said a foot guide, or Mexican smuggler, helped 12 people cross that morning and left once they got on the ATVs.
A migrant identified as Angel Trujillo Rodriguez stated he “feared for his life in the ATV because he was not wearing a seatbelt or a helmet and was afraid of being seriously injured or killed” in the fleeing vehicle.
The drivers later identified as Jonathan Tyler Acosta and Brian Alexis Ramirez, along with Castañeda and Gallegos are facing charges of conspiracy and transportation of illegal aliens for profit. All four made their initial appearance in a federal courtroom in San Diego on Monday and were awaiting bond.
